Hontiveros to GMA: Bitterness and lies won’t reverse your fate

This is a press statement from Akbayan.

Former Akbayan Representative Risa Hontiveros chided ex-President GMA today, saying that her “nobody’s home” remark smacks of bitterness and even jealousy of President Aquino.

“Hers was a solitary, lonely presidency. She was in Malacanang for nine years, reviled by the public and had to rely on a cabal of crooks for her own political survival. She had to call an election official to ‘win’ the election, and she would never know what it means to have the trust of the people. Of course she is bitter,” the former congresswoman said.

Hontiveros said that GMA’s baseless attacks against Aquino won’t shield her from the resolve of the current administration to hold the previous government accountable.

“If she thinks that the she is gaining sympathy, she is wrong. If she believes that this would soften the anti-corruption agenda of the government, then she is severely mistaken. Her day in court is forthcoming,” warned Hontiveros.

She likewise said that she is not all bothered by the criticism leveled by GMA against President Aquino. “I am confident that the reform agenda of the current administration won’t be derailed by GMA’s denunciation of what the government is doing. In fact, an attack from Arroyo means that Aquino government is doing good and that it is in the right track,” she said.

Hontiveros expressed pity for the former President, who had to create a castle of lies to perpetuate herself in power. “Hers was governance by deception and corruption,” the former solon said.

“What did she accomplish? The so-called nautical highway, which disregarded studies that Ro-ros are not for archipelagic waters, hence the accidents involving ro-ros that we’ve witnessed? She and the Marina head under her term, whom she continues to employ as her spokesperson, should own up for those deaths,” Hontiveros said.

“GMA claims that the economy was better under her administration when in truth the economy grew despite the Arroyo government. People became desperate and voted with their feet – they left the country in record numbers, and it was their remittances that kept the economy afloat, not GMA’s governance,” Hontiveros said, noting that remittances grew from US$13 billion in 2006 to US$17.3 billion in 2009.

“To claim that the economic growth that the country experienced was her doing is an insult to overseas Filipinos. Despite the hardship that they encounter abroad, overseas Filipino workers sent back their money to help their loved ones in the Philippines survive. GMA should never assume that the remittances were meant for her or her government,” Hontiveros said.

Hontiveros said that Arroyo had nine years to impose grand deception and fabricated accomplishments to cover up her incompetence and abuses. “The era is already over. Nobody bought her lies, but we sure will have her own up for what she did and what she failed to do,” she said.