Palace shrugs off protest actions over ZTE controversy

A senior Malacañang official shrugged off Monday the demonstrations being staged by militant groups in connection with the controversy generated by the Senate investigation over the botched national broadband deal with China’s ZTE Corp. In an interview, Presidential Spokesman and Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the public would shun these protest actions and instead, just focus on how to sustain the current economic gains. In the same breath however, Bunye defended the disclosure of National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales on the government’s monitoring of some members of the political opposition who may get involved in yet another attempt in wresting power from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. "That’s precisely the job of the National Security Adviser. He will be sleeping on job if he does not monitor these events, analyze the events as they unfold," he said. In downplaying the demonstrations, Bunye noted that the people are already exhausted in joining mass actions aimed at changing the country’s leadership. "We have said that the people are tired of destabilization. The people want this country to move forward, the people want the economy to continue to surge and they would like to see benefit of the growing economy being filtered down to people. So it is in the best interest of everyone keep our condition stable," he said. Bunye stressed that President Arroyo will complete here term until 2010. - GMANews.TV