Former president turned congresswoman Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Tuesday kept silent on President Benigno Aquino III's state of the nation address that denounced her government for allegedly depleting the national budget with anomalous disbursements. A day before Aquino's delivered his speeach, Arroyo earlier flew to Hong Kong together with her husband Jose Miguel ostensibly to consult a medical specialist concerning her husband's heart ailment. Reports said a group of placard-waving overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) picketed the Hong Kong hotel where Arroyo and her husband were staying as they denounced her government's “excesses.” However, Elena Bautista-Horn, Arroyo's spokesperson and former head of the Presidential Management Staff, said the former president was unfazed by the protest. In a radio interview, Horn said Arroyo is not eager to personally answer the charges made by her successor. Horn said Arroyo feels a congressional investigation is the proper venue for her to explain her side about the alleged anomalies. She said the former president “need not answer the allegations personally,” adding that she herself has already answered the points raised by Aquino. “There is no need for her to speak up,” Horn said. Arroyo's spokesperson denied Aquino's claim that the previous administration had drained the government coffers, insisting that the government still has enough funds. “There is still money. All they need to do is to check on the website of the Bureau of Treasury. I had checked it myself and I confirmed that the actual disbursement of the previous administration from January to end-June this year was only 788.8 billion pesos, or 51 percent of the General Appropriations Act approved last year,” she said. Horn admitted that Pampanga's second district where Arroyo ran for congresswoman received P105 million in calamity fund from the government. However, she denied that the funds were used for Arroyo's congressional campaign. Amid doubts raised by critics, Malacanang said the president and his Cabinet can easily back up all the things Aquino said in his speech. Manuel Quezon III of Malacanang's Communication Group, said in a television interview that Aquino's reports during the SONA were backed up by documents. He said in the coming days Budget Secretary Florencio Abad will explain the figures cited by Aquino in his SONA in full detail.
