The Nacionalista Party yesterday turned the tables on Senator Benigno Aquino III and branded as an act of desperation his charge that Senator Manuel Villar Jr. has struck an unholy alliance with Malacañang.
Iloilo Vice Governor Rolex Suplico said it was Aquino, Liberal Party candidate for president, who was apparently in league with the Palace, citing as proof the fact that many of his close relatives continue to occupy positions in the government.
"Senator Noynoy Aquino and the Liberal Party should be the ones to explain their closeness with Malacañang. He has close relatives in the Arroyo administration. If there is any candidate who should be suspected of being in cahoots with Malacañang, it should be Senator Aquino," he said.
Suplico, who is running for congressman under the Nacionalista, said Aquino's relatives who are close to President Arroyo include his aunts, former Senator Teresita Aquino Oreta, who is head of the Early Childhood Care and Development Council under the Office of the President, former Tarlac Gov. Margarita Cojuangco who is president of the Philippine Public Safety College under the Department of Interior and Local Government, and Lupita Aquino-Kashiwahara, President Arroyo's image consultant.
Aquino's uncle, Paul Aquino, is the president and chief executive officer of the Energy Development Corp. under the state-owned Philippine National Oil Company, Suplico said. He said the newly-designated environment and natural secretary, Eleazar Quinto, is married to Kashiwahara's daughter.
"So tell me, who has an unholy alliance with whom?" Suplico said. "These people are not distant relatives, these are people who are very close to Noynoy. Senator Oreta's husband is said to be practically Noynoy's surrogate father. Paul Aquino is Noynoy's political strategist."
LP national campaign manager Florencio Abad does not deny that Paul Aquino is involved in Noynoy's campaign. But he said Paul is just a consultant and gives advice to Noynoy only occasionally.
Suplico said political realities contradict Aquino's agenda of change. The same people will be in power. It would be difficult to say that there will be change if Noynoy will occupy the seat of power. I think the electorate should think long and hard about how Noynoy Aquino will deal with his relatives."
He recalled when the late President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino was in power, her close relatives, pejoratively called Kamag-anak Inc., meddled in government affairs and some of them were implicated in some questionable business deals. "Their latest fairy tale, that the NP standard bearer is in cahoots with Malacañang, only shows the extent of their desperation." They fabricated this lie because they have seen how Aquino's survey lead has been wiped out."
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