Shifting the blame

Here's the Arroyo admin again blaming somebody else for their own kapalpakan and corruption.
From the DT:

Malacañang called on the public to help President Arroyo and her administration get rid of the scourge of corruption, following the surveys of two global bodies, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Transparency International (TI) pointing to the Philippines under Gloria as a very corrupt country.

Predictably, the Palace mouthpiece, Ignacio Bunye, blamed not Gloria, but two former Presidents, Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada, but hey, Estrada has been out of power for the past three--and-a-half-years, and the same surveys will even show that during Estrada's time, the Philippines was not ranked as the fourth most corrupt country in Asia and the 11th most corrupt in the world.

It is on record that during Estrada's time, business competitiveness, as ranked by the WEF, wasn't bad at all, compared to Gloria's time, where the rankings really plunged. And on TI, the ranking then, in 2000, was number 36, compared to Gloria's 98 in the latest most corrupt list, out of 102 countries.

But Malacañang is still trying desperately to make it appear that Gloria is truly serious in getting rid of corruption, to the point of again asking the public to expose the corrupt, for them to be charged and placed in jail.

That is of course, a big joke, considering her track record.

The Tribune for instance has for some time, exposed many instances of corruption that involved not only her ranking Palace officials, but even those of her relatives and cronies. Yet in every instance; every exposé, Malacañang ignored these and even when substantiated — which means there was more than sufficient prima facie evidence to at least get a case going in court, the Palace simply refused to admit there was evidence and large scale graft committed by Gloria's sacred cows.

More to the point, Gloria and her Palace aides, Bunye included, even applaud with glee as Gloria's three Ks — kith, kin and kronies — file record-breaking libel suits, as well as other complaints against those who expose the crime of corruption.

Take the Fraport case that spoke of extortion, where it was alleged, in the German investors' lawyers' conversation, that the Firm was demanding tens of millions of dollars to fix up the Piatco deal, about which the taped conversation Gloria certainly knew, as a copy was handed to her.

So what did Gloria do? She and her aides lambasted the Tribune for such stories, claiming these were figments of the Tribune's imagination and even happily announced the Tribune was the subject of a series of libel cases, and by the Firm.

The Palace was even happier when the publisher and editor in chief of the Tribune was arrested at 6 a.m. by the WPD and detained in the WPD cell.

Or take the case of her Justice secretary, who stood accused of extorting some $2 million from a then Manila congressman, with bank records to prove it, yet what did Gloria do? Again, she claimed there was no evidence and worse, actively worked to get the congressman deported to the US to face charges there.

But the story does not end there, because the Swiss government sent the Department of Foreign Affairs documents showing evidence of money laundering by her Justice secretary where some $2 million was deposited in a Swiss account, which came from the Hong Kong Coutts Bank, plus a power of attorney from the same former Justice secretary. Not only did Gloria not sit on the Swiss authorities request for assistance with the Hong Kong government, but she even had her Senate ensure that there would be no treaty with Hong Kong approved.

Even in the case of spouse, accused of being Jose Pidal, and baring the evidence of his, and Pidal's bank accounts and investments abroad in a Senate forum, she, straight-faced, claims there is no evidence at all, and even went to the extent of ordering a state-sponsored abduction of an eye witness and later gets him to perjure himself to clear her, and her spouse.

Yet she has the gall to claim she is serious in weeding out corruption when all her actions speak of her protection of the corrupt in her government and even that of her cronies and even hypocritically pleads for the public to help her in her fight against graft and corruption when she is known to go after those who expose the corruption in her government.

With the corruption in the military today being unraveled and with Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia being probed by a congressional panel, she comes around and says this must be rooted out as the panel focuses on Garcia's statement of assets and liabilities (SAL) not reflecting his many deposits and properties.

What moral ascendancy does she possess, given the fact that her own SAL, even as vice president, did not reflect the many properties and investments she and the Pidals have?

That's really a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black.

Superb Editorial by the Tribune. Hits the nail right on the head.