I am not the President’s defender, but I think the so-called ‘bombshell’ dropped by Vice Governor Rolex T. Suplico with his anonymous witness and pictures alleging that Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo made a secret visit to the ZTE headquarters in Shenszhen, China is simply unbelievable. Here’s the press release issued in reaction to this story:
Suplico’s tall tales
The much-ballyhooed “smoking gun” presented by Iloilo vice governor Rolex T. Suplico to link President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to the controversial ZTE national broadband network deal is nothing but a diversionary tactic to ward off a possible suspension by Malacañang in connection with an administrative complaint against him.
Iloilo provincial administrator Manuel “Boy” Mejorada issued this reaction today, May 14, after Suplico claimed that he had an anonymous witness, and pictures, to prove that President Arroyo had secretly met with ZTE officials at their Shenzhen, China headquarters on Nov. 2, 2006.
“If you examine the statements made by Suplico and his unnamed witness, there is not an ounce of evidence to back the claim about a secret golf game and visit to the ZTE headquarters,” Mejorada said.
Even the pictures, Mejorada said, are highly suspicious, as these purport to show the first couple walking along the greens without any other companions in the background as what a presidential golfing party would usually take.
“The front page photograph in the Philippine Daily Inquirer has the tee in the background, and yet First Gentleman Mike Arroyo and the President, with their backs to it, are looking upward,” Mejorada, a former journalist, said.
Mejorada said with modern technology, it is so easy to “paste one’s face unto the body of another person, and it would be difficult to really say it’s not that person shown in the picture.”
“It used to be that a single picture can speak a thousand words,” Mejorada said. “Now, in this age of technology, a single picture can speak a thousand lies.”
In sum, both the statements of Suplico and his anonymous witness, and the pictures, do not amount to anything that would prove his conclusions, he said.
Mejorada said Suplico could have used this questionable disclosure as a “political smokescreen” to put Malacañang in a tight spot and discourage the Office of the President from imposing a suspension against him for alleged oppression, grave misconduct and abuse of authority.
Last Monday, Suplico submitted his answer to the administrative complaint filed by Mejorada before the Office of the President for allegedly using his position to harass the provincial administrator and take away the appropriations for the salaries and wages for his office.
Mejorada claims that Suplico “is confronted with the prospect of being slapped a preventive suspension anytime now” and employed this propaganda offensive to show that any action taken by Malacañang would be politically-motivated.
“Anybody can claim to have been personally present during that supposed visit,” he said.
He said it is hard to believe that a visit like that in a foreign country could be shrouded in secrecy that even border guards do not know about the movements of a head of state.
“Does Suplico or his witness want to tell us Mrs. Arroyo just went around without Chinese security personnel knowing about it?” he asked.
He also pointed to the claim of the witness that he didn’t know it was the ZTE headquarters which the presidential party had visited until he noticed the white uniforms of workers.
“That’s baloney!” he remarked.
“I have seen TV footage of the ZTE headquarters, and there’s a huge sign atop the building with the letters Z-T-E,” he said.
Mejorada said the whole story is clearly a work of fiction, and Suplico just took the media for a ride.
He added that Suplico is “grasping at straws to prevent an impending fall from the cliff” as he confronts the possibility of suspension. (30)
