NR0211:GMA govt has explaining to do re Marcos loot

Mula sa Tanggapan ni Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran
News Release February 11, 2005
House of Representatives, South Wing Rm 602
931-6615 Ina Alleco R. Silverio, Chief of Staff
Email: paggawa@edsamail.com.ph, anakpawis2003@yahoo.com
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Solon demands Pres. Arroyo take command responsibility for the missing Marcos funds; says this controversy yet another impeachable offense

Anakpawis Representative Crispin Beltran today expressed condemnation anew for th Macapagal-Arroyo administration anew for stringing the public and the Marcos victims along regarding the Marcos ill-gotten wealth. "This is another impeachable offense against Pres. Arroyo. She has gone behind the Filipino people's back regarding the Marcos ill-gotten wealth, and now that questions are being raised, her government is only issuing denials, using dilatory tactics to blindside the Marcos victims demanding indemnification," he said.

Beltran demanded that Malacanang immediately admit where it has used the Marcos money, challenging Pres. Arroyo to prove the Marcos victims wrong in their accusations that the billions have already been siphoned and spent.
"We need receipts, we demand records. The Macapagal-Arroyo administration is as bad as the Marcoses in denying the human rights victims justice," he said. "The administration is playing badminton with the Marcoses, using the indemnification funds as their shuttlecock while the human rights victims watch in outrage. There's a massive cover-up being done here and its impossible that the Marcoses are not in on the plot along with the Macapagal-Arroyo administration. The Marcos settlements have been settled between the Arroyo government and the Marcoses, and the victims have been left out in the cold."

Beltran said that it was logical to think that the Macapagal-Arroyo government has already spent and used up the Marcos wealth. "For one, the administration is deep in debt and is even auctioning over the remaining profitable GOCCs. For another, international creditors and investors are breathing down its neck, demanding that the government show a counterpart fund or collateral equivalent to secure and protect the profits of these investors. The first and logical suspect in this mystery of the missing Marcos funds is the executive itself. Pres. Arroyo should take immediate, command responsibility for the missing funds, "he said.

The veteran labor leader turned lawmaker said that it's also becoming clear why there have been so many delays in the passage of the Marcos compensation bill. "In the light of these new developments, its becoming apparent that delays in the finalization and deliberation of the compensation bill are deliberate. It would be an outrage to find that all this effort that went into the crafting of the bill will be wasted; that the debates and disagreements were all provoked and encouraged to delay the deliberations because there were no more compensation funds to be given to the 9,000 Marcos human rights victims," he said.#