De Lima: ‘Unholy’ Duterte-Arroyo alliance loaning PHL to China

President Rodrigo Duterte’s close ties with former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo “all points to China” as the “unholy alliance” is bent on loaning the Philippines’ future to China, detained Senator Leila de Lima said Wednesday.

In a statement, the opposition senator also said Arroyo’s “payback” from helping Duterte in the 2016 presidential elections “does not seem to end anytime soon,” pointing out how the former President “continues to figure prominently in [Duterte's] administration.”

“Clearly, Duterte still has [a] use for Arroyo, and Arroyo for Duterte, beyond their common hatred for the Aquino Administration and myself, for my investigation of then Mayor Duterte and his death squad and the arrest of Arroyo after her foiled escape attempt in 2011,” De Lima said.

“More than this common interest for vengeance against me, there is a deeper anchorage for this unholy alliance between Duterte and Arroyo, and it all points to China,” she added.

De Lima warned of the “resurrection” of the Arroyo government’s deals with China, including the controversial NBN-ZTE deal, adding that the “dead” deals are being “re-packaged” as Duterte’s Build, Build, Build program.

“The unholy team-up seems bent on mortgaging the Filipino nation and its future generations to China, for a commission of course, if the past is to be any indication,” she said. 

But, the Senator added, “Loaning our future to China ... is not the way forward. It is the path to national suicide.”   

De Lima also found it odd that Arroyo was given the role to host Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi in a dinner before the 31st ASEAN Summit that was concluded Tuesday.

Moreover, she said, "It appears that the Duterte administration chose Arroyo to host ASEAN leaders, while Vice President Leni Robredo was “sidelined” during the regional bloc’s summit “in clear violation of diplomatic protocols.” —Kathrina Charmaine Alvarez/LBG, GMA News