Malacañang desperate to cover up its corruption - Bayan

MEDIA RELEASE

August 21, 2009

Davao City - Palace mouthpieces are now doing anything to bail out the rottenness of the US- Arroyo regime by pretending to be transparent in the eyes of the people on the matters of expenses of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during her trips outside the country but such act will not work according to Bayan- Southern Mindanao spokesperson John Birondo.

“Presenting the huge expenses of Gloria Arroyo’s foreign trips amounting to P2.7 Billion to the public is an obligation of the Arroyo administration and their brand of “transparency” certainly won’t work in saving the corrupt Arroyo administration from the angry people,” Birondo said.

Palace spokesperson Cerge Remonde has been conducting briefings showing the so-called benefits from the foreign trips conducted by Mrs. Arroyo since 2001. A Commission on Audit report has shown that the president has overshot her own budget for foreign travel for the past eight years by as much as P1 billion. Malacanang has sought to justify this by pointing out the benefits in terms of investments and other foreign aid.

Bayan lambasted Malacañang’s claim that the country benefits from the foreign trips of the Arroyo government like foreign investments and military aid. “The benefits of the trips abroad that Malacañang claims are not for the people. It is for the bolstering of the puppetry of this regime to the dictates of its imperialist master – the US,” Birondo said.

“We cannot even feel that there are benefits because the people are still hungry. Health Secretary Francisco Duque even admitted this during his recent visit here in Davao saying that the hunger incidence in the country particularly here in Mindanao has increased from first and second quarter of this year. There are no jobs for the workforce and the farmers remain landless,” Birondo said.

“The Filipino people will not buy the false justifications and diversions of the Arroyo regime. The crookedness of this regime will be faced with collective efforts and actions of the people that will sooner lead to the ouster of this corrupt and isolated regime,” Birondo said.