Gloria behind ‘pabaon’ system in military – KMU

Labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno accused today former Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of being responsible for the alleged P500 Million “pabaon” system for retiring generals of the military, while also condemning Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III for failing to show political will in going after the former president despite numerous accusations against the latter.

“With her strategic investments in appointing allies to the Supreme Court and Sandiganbayan, which are well-known by now, Gloria surely invested in former military generals. The P500 Million pabaon is both a carrot and a possible stick to maintain loyalty to the former president: it is a bribe for the former general which can also be used to expose him of being involved in corruption in case he attacks Gloria,” said Roger Soluta, KMU secretary-general.

“The expose on the ‘pabaon’ system is only the latest confirmation of long-standing and well-supported accusations that Gloria plundered public funds for personal political goals,” Soluta added.

Aquino scored on Gloria, again

KMU again criticized Pres. Aquino for failing to show political will in going after former Pres. Arroyo for accusations of committing plunder and other crimes to the Filipino people.

“The expose on the pabaon system highlights just how little Noynoy has done, more than a half year into his term, in fulfilling his campaign promise of going after Arroyo. Despite the numerous and well-supported accusations of plunder and other crimes against Gloria, the current regime has failed to act swiftly and decisively on the cases against her,” Soluta said.

“It seems that Noynoy is banking on his flawed Truth Commission to go after Gloria. He has failed to exhaust other options in pursuing this objective: he can make the DOJ act on a case on the NBN-ZTE deal and investigate cases of human rights violations, he can push for the impeachment of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, among others. Noynoy is doing so little this late in the day against Gloria,” Soluta added.