MANILA, 7 October 2005 — President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s spokesman walked out of a budget hearing yesterday after being badgered by opposition lawmakers, riot police clashed anew with protesters and the national security adviser remained in hospital detention after a spat with senators.

Exactly four months after Arroyo’s worst crisis erupted, she is still tenaciously battling a swarm of foes that include ex-ally and former president, Corazon Aquino, and a feisty opposition bent on forcing her to step down over allegations she stole last year’s election.

The House of Representatives, dominated by Arroyo allies, last month threw out impeachment charges against her on a technicality, provoking her rivals to take the battle to the streets. Coup rumors have intensified since then.

Arroyo has resorted to tougher methods, clamping down on leftist protesters demanding her ouster and barring officials from testifying in congressional corruption investigations without her consent. Those steps sparked fears she may be moving toward authoritarian rule.

“The people are completely exhausted with politics when so much remains to be done in the nation,” Arroyo said yesterday. “I am deeply concerned that the pressing issues of the people will be lost in a noise of our degenerated political system.” She urged rival lawmakers to buckle down to work and help get the economy moving by passing next year’s budget and an anti-terrorism law. Her plea fell on deaf ears.

Combative Spokesman

During a congressional budget hearing, opposition Rep. Roilo Golez, Arroyo’s former national security adviser, grilled presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye with questions on the vote-rigging allegations. A fuming Bunye refused to answer and walked out, only to return two hours later to apologize after lawmakers threatened to cite him for contempt and detain him.

Golez asked Bunye about claims that he used his office to try to cover up President Arroyo’s alleged involvement in cheating.

Golez pointed to the so-called “Hello Garci” tapes, a tape-recording of wire-tapped conversations between the president and former Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, during which the duo discussed how to ensure Arroyo’s victory in last year’s presidential election.

Bunye refused to answer Golez’s question, claiming it was irrelevant.

Golez pointed out that it was relevant because Bunye and the president had known about the tapes’ existence on June 3, contrary to the press secretary’s claim that he and Arroyo learned about them only on June 6.

“Your honor, this is not the proper forum unless the gentleman from Parañaque is reviving the impeachment complaint,” Bunye said.

“No, I’m not. This is part of your job. Your office was being used in this,” Golez said.

Bunye stood his ground and insisted that he would answer the allegations only in “the proper forum.”

Cornered, Bunye accused Golez of grandstanding and walked out.

Two hours later, Bunye came back and apologized.

“My actions this morning was not intended as an affront to this august committee. Rather it was a reaction to what I perceived as a personal insult and an attempt to use the budget hearing for purposes other than what it is intended for,” Bunye said.

“I believe that what transpired this morning, we may set aside. What is paramount is for us to all work together to preserve interdepartmental harmony,” he said.

“I’m now prepared to answer your questions but before I do that, I’d like to offer my hand to the honorable Roilo Golez and the other members of the committee,” he added.

Street Clashes

Meanwhile, hundreds of leftist protesters demanding Arroyo’s ouster clashed with riot police outside the Malacañang presidential palace, defying a new tough policy that strictly bans protests without a government permit. At least three protesters were arrested and several injured.

Violent dispersals of street protests by riot police for three straight days since Tuesday left scores of militants hurt.

Television footage of a protest dispersal in Manila’s Mendiola district Wednesday noon showed riot policemen repeatedly hitting protesters, including an old woman, even as the militant’s rally had been broken up.

Fifteen protesters were arrested and over a dozen were injured, including 10 policemen, in the dispersal, the second in Mendiola in as many days. On Tuesday, a lawmaker was among those hurt when police stopped his group from proceeding to Mendiola.

Yesterday, police blocked hundreds of protesters from marching to the Mendiola district in Manila, as the clampdown on illegal protests continued.

Malacañang scrapped the “maximum tolerance” policy on street protests in favor of the calibrated preemptive response policy.

Militants decried it as “illegal” and showed defiance by repeatedly marching to Malacañang, only to be met by unyielding police. But presidential Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said protesters could be provoking law enforcers “to turn violent so they’ll have reason to cry of human rights violations.” He said militants courted police violence by challenging government’s firm resolve to crack down on illegal street rallies and arrest rowdy protesters.

Ermita assured the public, though, that police officers found abusing of the policy would be aptly dealt with.

Director Vidal Querol, chief of police for Metro Manila, has admitted that Wednesday’s violent dispersal of a street protest in Manila was “unjustifiable” and ordered an investigation.

Querol instructed police commands in the national capital to adopt measures to prevent violence in future dispersals.

Gag Order

Also yesterday, four Cabinet officials failed to show up at yesterday’s Senate inquiry into the alleged diversion of farm support funds to President Arroyo’s campaign kitty.

Agriculture Secretary Domingo Panganiban, Budget Secretary Romulo Neri, Land Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman and Trade Secretary Peter Favila did not attend the Senate hearing.

“You can see that because of EO 464 executive officials are not coming,” said Senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr., referring to the executive order that bans government executives from appearing in any legislative inquiries without Palace consent.

Testifying before the Senate committee, Danilo Ramos of the farmer’s group KMP said their members did not receive even a single granule of fertilizer from DA.

“This is a small fertilizer fund that was used to fertilize Arroyo’s electoral campaigns,” he said.

First gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo has also been linked into the controversy for allegedly pocketing as much as 50 percent of the GMA funds released to congressional and local officials before the 2004 election campaign period began.

Arroyo’s officials have become combative since the president issued EO 464 requiring all executive officials to seek her permission before testifying in any congressional inquiry.

Arroyo issued the order after the Senate ordered the detention of National Security Adviser Noberto Gonzales on Sept. 21 when he refused to answer questions about a government contract. Complaining of a heart ailment, he was taken to a hospital, where he remains confined under guard. (Input from AP & Inquirer News Service)