Palace won’t dignify evil genius tag on Noy

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang yesterday brushed aside former senator Joker Arroyo’s “evil genius” description of President Aquino, whom Arroyo compared to the late strongman Marcos in realigning funds if only to have full control of other branches of the government.

“With all due respect to Senator Arroyo, we do not wish to dignify comments from Senator Arroyo,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in defending Aquino from Arroyo’s observations that the Chief Executive differed from his late mother Cory.

Arroyo served as executive secretary of the late president Cory Aquino in the late ‘80s.

Arroyo compared the younger Aquino to Marcos – the archenemy of his late father senator Benigno Aquino Jr.– in using the Administrative Code of 1987 as legal basis for the Disbursement Acceleration Program that the Supreme Court had invalidated.

“Cory signed it in 1987 and yet up to the end of her term in 1992, she never used it. The question now lies, why P-Noy used it 25 years later after it was signed…The evil genius tag I mentioned then has now become for real,” Arroyo said in an interview over dzBB.

“It seems like P-Noy and Marcos thought alike. Cory did not use it. I am astounded why that administrative code was used,” the former legislator added.

Arroyo said Marcos used the 1918 Administrative Code as basis for his control over government funds during his time. He also noted how Marcos squandered the people’s money using the administrative code.

“Cory did not use it because she knew fully well that her predecessor was the one who initiated the decree,” Arroyo stressed, noting that neither former presidents Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo used of the same.

Lacierda defended President Aquino’s use of the administrative code, saying that the code has been the basis for the continuing authority of the President to reorganize the executive branch or the executive department.

“So, if the implication is it was signed by Mr. Marcos, then that doesn’t support it. The Revised Administrative Code was signed by President Cory under powers provided to her during that time,” Lacierda added.

The Palace spokesman also maintained that the code is supported by the transitory provisions in the 1987 Constitution. “The fact that one uses the law or not should not be a basis for bewilderment. There’s an applicable law that has not been declared invalid up till this point. It is still constitutional.”

“Just for the record, Mr. Marcos had decreed a new Admin Code to replace the Revised Administrative Code of 1917, but it was never published. So President Cory noted it had never been released, so President Cory decreed a new Administrative Code,” Lacierda related.

Cory’s administrative code then became Executive Order 292.

“Executive Secretary Joker Arroyo at the time might have the impression that it was not signed by President Cory Aquino because the implication is hindi ginamit ni Ginang Aquino (Mrs. Aquino did not use it),” Lacierda stressed.