Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) yesterday urged President Arroyo to drop her government’s libel case against Archbishop Oscar Cruz of the Archdiocese of Lingayen and Dagupan City in Pangasinan to spare her from criticisms that she continues to pursue a policy of vindictiveness against her critics.
Instead of getting back at her critics through harassment suits, Pimentel said the President should heed the challenge to undertake honest-to-goodness measures to clean up and reform her graft-ridden government.
He asked why Malacanang and the Department of Justice (DoJ) have resurrected an already dead case against the archbishop which stemmed from his published remarks that some female employees of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) were made to act like "guest relations officers (GROs)" when they served as usherettes during the birthday party of First Gentleman Juan Miguel "Mike" Arroyo at Malacanang Park on June 26, 2004.
Pimentel noted that the Manila prosecutor’s office had already dismissed the libel suit for insufficient grounds a long time ago, but Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez overturned the decision only now.
"The President should reconsider the DoJ moves to harass Archbishop Cruz unless she wants to be remembered in history as vindictive virago," the opposition lawmaker said.
Pimentel said the motive for the libel case against Archbishop Cruz becomes even more questionable because the First Gentleman dropped his libel complaints against more than 50 working journalists last year in the spirit of goodwill and reconciliation.
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