ZAMBOANGA CITY, 9 May 2005 — The visit of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s husband to Mindanao last week was purely for “dental” purposes, not a loyalty check as had been reported, a military spokesman in the Southern Philippines said yesterday.
“The first gentleman visited the army base in Basilan and the Southern Command (headquarters) in Zamboanga City not to conduct loyalty check or solicit military support, but to distribute dentures to soldiers and policemen as part of the president’s humanitarian program,” Capt. Ritchie Pabilonia told Arab News.
Jose Miguel Arroyo, better known as Mike Arroyo, was reported to have gone soliciting support from soldiers ni military camps after former defense chief Fortunato Abat called for a military-civilian junta to take over the government.
Pabilonia said Mike Arroyo was just delivering the dentures he had earlier promised to some 300 soldiers and policemen who needed them.
While in Zamboanga City, Arroyo also visited the Camp Navarro military hospital where soldiers wounded in battle with rebels were recuperating.
“Gen. Alberto Braganza (Southcom chief) was happy with the visit of the first gentlemen and so are the soldiers. We are thankful for these good things provided us by President Arroyo and the first gentleman,” Pabilonia said.
Before his trip to Basilan and Zamboanga City, Arroyo also flew to Bacolod in the central Philippines where he met with politicians and military officials.
In his visits, he criticized Manila media for linking him, his son Rep. Mikey Arroyo and brother Rep. Ignacio Arroyo to alleged illegal gambling collections in the northern Philippines.
Citing the president’s alleged failure to fight poverty and effectively run the government, Abat proposed the establishment of a revolutionary transition government to pave the way for a switch to a federal or parliamentary government as a way of speeding up development and ridding the government of corrupt officials.
Opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson had linked the first gentleman to a multimillion-peso paper trail detailing the alleged flow of surplus funds from the previous election campaign to the private bank accounts of persons.
Arroyo strongly denied by the president’s husband.
