Gloria Arroyo: Aquino's 'politics of division' causing economic slump

  In a paper entitled “It’s the economy, student,” Mrs. Arroyo lambasted President Benigno Simeon Aquino III’s supposed “obsessive pursuit of political warfare” that she said has slowed down the country’s economy.   “Rather than building our nation’s achievement, this regime has extolled itself as the sole harbinger of all that is good. And the Filipino people are paying for this obsession,” she said in the paper presented to the media on Thursday. Later in the day, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda dismissed Mrs. Arroyo's criticism as mere 'sourgraping.'   The paper, written by Mrs. Arroyo while recuperating from a series of operations last year, was read to the media by economist Gonzalo Jurado, the former President’s economics professor at the University of the Philippines (UP), at a "colloquium" at the Manila Hotel called for the purpose by Mrs. Arroyo's staff. A colloquium is defined as an academic meeting. The Arroyo paper was the only one presented. An open forum is ongoing as of the time of this posting.    The former President is currently in detention at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) while facing a charge of electoral sabotage of the 2007 elections.   Mrs. Arroyo, who also once served as President Aquino’s economics professor at the Ateneo de Manila University, also attributed the administration’s “vacuum of vision” to the current “weak” status of the state.   “The symptoms of this weak state are the large gap between rich and poor—a gap that has been exploited for political ends—and a political system based on patronage and, ultimately, corruption to support that patronage,” she said.   Gossip about love life   Mrs. Arroyo likewise described the Aquino government’s slogan, “Kung Walang Corrupt, Walang Mahirap” as “simplistic.”   “If there is no corruption, there is no poverty—this proposition that also tells us that the undeniable persistence of poverty to this day therefore means the continuation of corruption under this administration,” she said.   She also advised Aquino to become “hands-on” after she observed a pattern of “government lethargy” and “nobody-home leadership.”   “This is not the kind of ethics that should be practiced by one who claims to have a genuine reform agenda,” she said.   She added that the Aquino government should stop “encouraging gossip about one’s love life in which no one can possibly be interested.”   Mrs. Arroyo called on the administration to focus on beefing up infrastructure development, addressing the needs of education and healthcare, increasing land productivity and dealing with environmental concerns to boost the country’s economy in the coming years.