Malacañang hits back at Arroyo over ‘leadership vacuum’ claim

Malacañang lashed at former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for claiming the country now has a vacuum of leadership under President Benigno Aquino III, even as it said it is undoing some of the abuses under her watch. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte on Saturday also belied Mrs. Arroyo’s claims that the Aquino administration has been obsessed in demonizing her. “Nobody will dispute we have been working. As to her claims we are demonizing her, we just cannot avoid addressing the problems we inherited from her when President Benigno Aquino III assumed office last June 30," Valte said in Filipino on government-run dzRB radio. Mrs. Arroyo, now Pampanga congresswoman, claimed last Friday there is a “vacuum of leadership" in the Aquino administration, which she said failed to address various crises. On the other hand, Valte took a dig at Arroyo’s allies over their contrasting statements on how they would hit back for what they considered as the Aquino administration's attempts to use previous government officials and Mrs. Arroyo as scapegoats for the supposed failures of the new sets of leaders. Earlier this week, House Senior Deputy Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez said the opposition may go on the offensive against the Aquino administration. But another Arroyo ally, House Minority Leader and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said the opposition bloc would continue to maintain a “tempered posture" and not engage in “virulent and baseless opposition." “Noong isang araw ang sabi magkakaroon ng frontal attack, ngayon may critical collaboration. At this point di namin alam ano ang nangyayari, kami msimo confused anong nangyayari sa Lakas, Valte said. (One day they say they will mount a frontal attack to hit back at us. Now they say they will give critical collaboration. At this point we don’t know what is happening within opposition party.) She said that while the Palace would welcome a healthy opposition as part of a democracy, it has yet to feel such critical collaboration from the present opposition. “A healthy opposition that will take the administration to task for shortcomings is vital to a democracy. We want the debates to focus on issues and not side issues," she said. Addressing problems Valte said the Palace cannot avoid pointing to Arroyo and her administration as the source of some problems the Aquino administration has inherited. “We owe it to the people... na malaman anong nangyari at anong ginagawa para ma-address ang sitwasyon (We owe it to the people to be informed on what happened, and what we are doing to address the situation)," she said. She cited as one example of an “inherited" problem the “excessive bonuses and allowances" to some government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs). According to Valte, the Palace issued an executive order freezing the bonuses, and eventually coming up with guidelines on benefits and allowances of GOCC officials. Because of such measures, she said the government managed to save funds that she said were channeled to social programs of the administration. “We do not agree with the allegations na puro batikos tayo at di natin ginagawa ang ating trabaho (So we do not agree with allegations that we are obsessed with demonizing Arroyo instead of doing our jobs)," she added. — LBG, GMA News