ANGELES CITY – Former three-term Zambales Rep. Milagros “Mitos” Habana-Magsaysay lambasted President Aquino on Friday for instituting what she termed as “selective justice” in pursuing his critics and political foes while protecting erring men in his government.
The feisty Magsaysay began by saying that former President and now Rep. Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo (GMA) is a victim of Aquino’s selective justice as well as Vice President Jejomar Binay.
She questioned why only GMA is in jail while her co-accused in the alleged conspiracy in the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) scam are all out on bail. “Yung mga co-accused po ni GMA, dahil co-conspirator daw si GMA, bakit lahat sila out on bail? Siya naman na hindi directly involved sa agency which is PCSO, siya yung hindi binigyan ng bail,” Magsaysay said.
“This is what is saddening, here we see a government under the PNoy administration that uses its power to curtail the freedom and the rights of their political opponents and this is not confined to GMA, it is also being done to other allies of the former administration,” Magsaysay said.
“So as a lawyer, maybe the VP is speaking as a human rights lawyer. May basis naman talaga for saying she (GMA) was given unfair treatment because of politics,” she said.
“One cannot blame (Binay) for mouthing what everybody was mouthing all along, including me, that under the PNoy administration it is selective justice,” she said. “Because there are so many instances that we can cite selective justice as we can glean from the time of the Luneta crisis up to today,” Magsaysay said.
The President has yet to charge or punish anyone from his cabinet “for incompetency or inefficiency” that they continuously commit up to this day and refused to remove them from their posts, she lamented. She charged President Aquino for always saying: “I have my full trust and confidence.”
She asked: “How then can you expect or seek justice if you are on the other side of the coin?” She said she was just lucky because they have nothing to throw against her. “Because I’m sure if they have something against me, I could have been charged long before the three senators were indicted,” she said.
Magsaysay said she is very much dismayed by the politicking. She said this is the first time she encountered this kind of politics that after the Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) not one has raised a howl from the honorable members of congress with regards to the demeanor of the Palace.
If there is somebody that should be in jail that somebody should be (Budget Secretary) Butch Abad, she said.
“Because the mere fact that the Supreme Court declared DAP as unconstitutional and the mere fact that Butch Abad admitted that he used it in the impeachment of CJ (Chief Justice Renato) Corona, that is already enough evidence to put him in jail,” Magsaysay explained.
She said she was just wondering why despite the cases filed against Abad and because he is not immune from suit the cases filed against him are not moving. Magsaysay also said the “intramurals against VP Binay” is where you will see the kind of leadership of the President.
She said at the start of the PNoy administration, there was already an obvious faction in his leadership, the Balay versus Samar. She said the case against Binay is a clear case of Balay versus Samar because the front runners in the coming presidential elections are Secretary Mar Roxas, Binay and Sen. Allan Peter Cayetano.
Makati parking building probe
“If you asked me my opinion on the Makati parking building investigation, I would say that it has no credibility. First, those who are looking into the alleged anomaly have already declared their intention to run for president. So what credibility are we talking about?” she asked. “Cayetano said he will run for president.
(Senator Antonio) Trillanes said he will run for vice president or even hoping to run for president. How do you expect me to believe these two? What credibility do they have?” “But if the one who is investigating is somebody who is not interested in the presidency, maybe I will believe him.
But the mere fact that they want to run for the highest position, what will come out in the hearing will already be questionable,” Magsaysay said. “If the hearing on the Makati parking building is of national importance, then how come there are only three senators investigating it? Where are the rest of the 21 senators?” she asked.
In aid of legislation
“If the hearing is indeed in aid of legislation, then we have a lot for comparison in the allegations of overpricing,” she said. “There is the overprice issue of the Iloilo Convention Center of Senate President Franklin Drilon.”
“There is also a plunder case filed against the Cayetanos with regards to the overpricing of multi-cabs in Taguig,” she added. “There are also allegations of ghost employees, why is Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel not investigating these anomalies?”
Prejudged
“The truth is Trillanes already prejudged the case because of his pronouncement that he wants Binay in jail,” she said.
“Who is Trillianes, is he a judge? From what I know, here in our country the only one who can render judgment is the judiciary.”” It should be the Ombudsman and the Sandigangbayan that they should push, she said.
Congress pardons Trillanes
“How can I believe Trillanes when he is a convicted rebel for committing crimes against the government in the Peninsula siege and Oakwood mutiny,” Magsaysay said. “The only reason why Trillanes is a free man now is because of an act of Congress where he and his fellow mutineers were pardoned. That’s the only reason why he is out of jail, it is because of that magnanimous act of Congress.”
Conspiracy theory
Magsaysay said the conspiracy theory being peddled by opposition lawyer JV Bautista could be true because after Binay met the President, the company of Mar Roxas, Eric Gutierrez (the alleged owner of the chopper used to take photos of the Binay Hacienda in Batangas exposed by Bautista), Congressman Edgar Erice, Abad and Presidential Adviser Ronald Llamas went to the Palace to meet the President.
Magsaysay said Roxas and company were convincing PNoy to give Binay the boot because he is already hitting
the administration. This bolsters the conspiracy theory of Bautista because the four conspirators were all there, she
said. Magsaysay said Llamas, since last year, is working for Allan Peter Cayetano for his presidential campaign.
On Trillanes luxury vehicles
Magsaysay said at first she laughed off the issue of luxury vehicles against Trillanes, a Mitsubishi Pajero, two Nissan Teranos and five Toyota Delicas from Subic. But she discovered that the issue was taken from the articles of columnists Jarius Bondoc and Mon Tulfo way back in 2003.She said Trillanes could not explain why the eight vehicles were under his name.
She said CJ Corona was impeached because he did not declare some properties in his SALN. But Trillanes, despite his non-declaration of the eight vehicles, has not even been indicted. She said when then Senator Noli De Castro asked Trillianes why the eight vehicles were under his name, he said this is to prevent them from being embargoed in case his mother, Mrs. Virginia Trillanes, make a default in her payments.
Magsaysay said Trillanes’ mother was also a supplier in the AFP like Mrs. Janet Lim-Napoles. “How can I now believe Trillanes and Cayetano when they themselves are not coming in with clean hands,” she said. “If you are to accuse someone, make sure you are clean so that nothing can be thrown back at you. As a former legislator, I also look into the credibility of the accusers or it is just plain politicking,” Magsaysay said.
