Binay hounds Hyatt 10 and other noisy GMA critics

The Aquino administration has not achieved anything significant in charging former President Gloria Arroyo and her allies for alleged wrongdoing during her nearly 10-year watch, according to Vice President Jejomar Binay.

“Is there a solid accomplishment? There is none. The Truth Commission, supposedly, will be the one to go after Gloria but it was declared illegal. Malacañang has done [nothing] at all [all] this time,” Vice President Jejomar Binay on Tuesday told The Manila Times during an exclusive interview.


The Supreme Court late last year ruled that the Truth Commission was unconstitutional, dealing a big blow to Executive Order 1 that had created the body.

It dismissed speculation that the ruling was intended to shield the former president from prosecution over allegations of corruption during her term.

Binay warned against bringing cases linking Mrs. Arroyo to alleged graft to the Office of the Ombudsman, whose impartiality he said he doubts.

Sounding pessimistic, he said that the alleged Arroyo corruption cases would end up being forgotten by the people the way they lost memory of alleged Marcos graft cases.

“You know, Filipinos have a short memory, or maybe they [crooks during the Arroyo and Marcos administrations] were able to hide [their money-making rackets] very well,” the Vice President added.

With the war against corruption by the administration of President Benigno Aquino 3rd apparently in tatters, Binay said, now is the time for critics of then President Arroyo to stand up and be counted in the battleplan of Malacañang to make the country’s former leader account for alleged excesses during her watch.

Silent now - In hurling the challenge, the Vice President addressed in particular the so-called Hyatt 10, a group of mostly Cabinet members who rebelled against Mrs. Arroyo over alleged graft in her administration but have since inched their way back to high office in the Aquino administration.

Sidling up, also apparently, to President Aquino, Binay practically accused the Hyatt 10 of not doing enough to push forward Malacañang’s war against graft, especially that allegedly committed by officials of the Arroyo administration.

The Vice President, also apparently taking the cudgels for the President, said that the people—not Mr. Aquino alone—also are responsible for winning such war.

Binay also dared Hyatt 10 and other groups critical of Mrs. Arroyo before to once and for all bring the issue to the courts in order to advance the incumbent President’s initiatives in stamping out graft.

“Why do we always expect the President to tackle this issue [of corruption during the Arroyo watch]? The people who were making noises before, where are they now, the Hyatt 10? They are now silent but they also are Filipinos. Or maybe, they are still grappling [with] proper procedures [in running after alleged crooks in the past administration],” he said.

Binay also told The Times that the Aquino administration can explore ways that will enable Malacañang to hold Mrs. Arroyo accountable.

“I think there are so many options. One is that the Department of Justice [DOJ] can go after [the former president],” he said.

Meanwhile, Binay also told The Times that he is not proceeding with a planned China trip intended to appease the Chinese government over the bloody hostage-taking in Manila last year that left eight Chinese tourists from Hong Kong dead.

“A report [on the incident] has reached the Chinese government. Secretary Lim went there and we don’t have a [copy of the] report on what happened [anyway],” he said, referring to Tourism chief Alberto Lim.

By Angelo S. Samonte, Manila Times