WASHINGTON DC – The political noise back in the Philippines has found its way into the dialogue between President Arroyo and US President Barack Obama after all.

Although the historic meeting centered on bilateral and international concerns and interests, President Arroyo Friday raised the issue of domestic politics when she defended her government’s record on fighting corruption and resolving human rights violations in her meeting with Obama at the White House.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita admitted that the President informed Obama that allegations hurled by some groups against her administration are baseless. Ermita was among the seven senior government officials who were allowed access to the White House alongside President Arroyo.

“She talked about some of the charges against her administration which are just unproven perceptions and innuendoes that are being converted into facts which are not necessarily so,” Ermita said in an interview with reporters here.

Asked to elaborate on the President’s comments to Obama, Ermita said: “The President said there are people who talk against my administration. They are more innuendos rather than facts.”

Ermita later explained that the President wanted to correct the false impression in the news about alleged prevalence of corruption in the bureaucracy as the Philippines pushes its bid for large scale development funds from the US.

He said the country has not yet passed all the criteria for the Millennium Challenge Account due to .01 percent and must effectively communicate its headway in combating corruption and improving good governance.

“The President thought that probably it’s the reason why we have to do much more to correct perceptions about the conditions in the Philippines. The President thought of saying that to bring home the point that this is an exercise in democracy so much has been written they are only innuendoes. That was also mentioned by her in her SoNA,” he said

In her State of the Nation Address, the President hit back at her political opponents, saying she was no thief and a dictator. She also denied having desired to extend her tenure beyond 2010 via Charter change.

Ermita also disclosed that the President reported to Obama her administration’s efforts to address the human rights issues, including the spate of political violence. “She just mentioned it even if it was not asked at all by Obama,” he said.

He said there was no discussion about the 2010 national elections during the President’s meeting with Obama.