Gerry Albert Corpuz presents

This is Gerry Albert Corpuz and this is my life and political journey to the world of class struggle and class emancipation

Pamalakaya chucks out Sec. Defensor’s denial on alleged

Pamalakaya chucks out Sec. Defensor’s denial on alleged

bribe attempts to stop House probe on Gloriagate tapes

“ If there is smoke, there is fire”. 

This was the argument taken by leaders of the militant fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) in dismissing the statement of Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Michael Defensor that there was no truth to rumors that Malacañang tried to bribe lawmakers at the House of Representatives to stop the ongoing investigation on the controversial Gloriagate tapes.

“ The Filipino people were not born yesterday. They were exposed to this kind of dirty politics. The news spread out faster than a speeding bullet only to be denied by one of Arroyo’s trusted political lieutenants”, said Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap in a press statement.

The DENR chief was accused by some quarters in the opposition camp as the one who was dispatched by Malacañang to distribute the payoffs to congressmen who would strike a vote to end the wiretapping investigation at the Lower House.

Sec. Defensor on Monday denied circulating reports that Malacañang would release between 500,000 pesos to 2 million pesos per congressman to stop the House inquiry on the controversial wiretapped tapes allegedly containing conversations between Mrs. Arroyo and Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano suggesting that Palace rigged the elections to ensure the victory of Mrs. Arroyo in last year’s presidential elections.

Like Defensor, administration congressmen quickly denied that some of them have been bribed by Malacañang to stop the probe on the Gloriagate scandal amidst Palace’s strong pressure for them to kill the probe this week.

Pamalakaya’s Hicap, quoting a news report from another major broadsheet said that a highly placed source revealed that a first time congressman from nearby Metro Manila, along with Rep. Prospero Pichay ( Surigao del Sur) and few more congressmen sat in a Palace meeting with Gabriel Claudio, Malacañang’s legislative liaison officer together with some Palace aides to discuss ways to handle the Gloriagate tapes.

According to the same source, the “small group” who met inside Malacañang agreed to bribe lawmakers who are members of the committees that will compose a majority vote to strike against the resumption of any hearing on the controversial tapes.

“ In the first place, the meeting was highly questionable. Lawmakers who claimed themselves as real public servants, independent minded politicians ,truth and justice seekers are meeting with the legislative liaison of a president whose mandate is currently being questions because of allegations of massive poll fraud and other grave electoral crimes”, Hicap added.

Rep. Pichay had branded the bribe issue as another black propaganda as he denied any knowledge of the supposed bribe to be undertaken by Malacañang for administration solons to vote against the continuity of the investigation on the controversial Gloriagate scandal.

Meanwhile, Pamalakaya dared all congressmen who had allegedly received bribe money from Malacañang to spill the beans and tell the people the exact story about the payola handed down to certain members of the Lower House.  “ For the sake of public interest and good governance, we strongly urge lawmakers who have knowledge of the alleged payola campaign of the Office of the President to rise above the occasion and tell the truth”, the group added. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 22:55 | link | comments (2) |

Comments:

Comments: