Palace: Nothing new in Mike Arroyo’s ‘cover-up’ accusation

Malacañang on Sunday dismissed former First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike" Arroyo’s claims that President Benigno Aquino III’s November deadline to file charges against his wife, former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was meant to cover up a bleak Christmas awaiting Filipinos. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the Arroyo camp already resorted to the “cover-up" line several times, even as she insisted the Aquino administration has “never been in the habit" of covering up. “We have never been in the habit of covering up anything," Valte said on government-run dzRB radio. “We don’t have anything to hide. We have always been transparent and forthright with what the administration is doing." But she said the Arroyo camp has repeatedly accused the Palace of making cover-ups, including one near President Benigno Aquino III’s second State of the Nation Address last July. “Parang sirang plaka na yan, paulit-ulit, wala nang nakikinig (They are sounding like a broken record being played over and over again, such that no one is listening anymore)," Valte said. On Sunday, newspaper reports quoted Mr. Arroyo as saying the Palace’s imposition of the November deadline for the filing of cases and the Christmas jailing scenario is setting the stage for a media spectacle against the Arroyos “to mask the bleakness of the Christmas season as a result of the worsening economic crisis brought about by the fumbling student council administration of P-Noy (Aquino)." Mr. Arroyo said the Aquino administration earlier lowered its growth forecasts for this year and 2012 as the economy continued to slow down in the previous quarters. He also questioned the request by three senators to the Office of the Ombudsman to file corruption charges against him over the P104.9-million sale of secondhand helicopters to the Philippine National Police (PNP) in 2009. The used helicopters, which Mr. Arroyo purportedly owned, were sold at brand new prices, according to the report of the Senate blue ribbon committee chaired by Sen. Teofisto Guingona III. “The Senate report on the chopper deal is the handiwork of people thirsty of political vendetta orchestrated by an obsessed President in their desperate bid to mask their incompetence and abuses," Mr. Arroyo said. — KBK, GMA News