After photo op, it’s back to work. Arroyo, left, with Planning Secretary Augusto Santos during NEDA-Cabinet meeting.
'From frying pan
to worse frying pan'
CBCP head rues Erap ouster, GMA installation
BY GERARD NAVAL
ARCHBISHOP Angel Lagdameo yesterday
expressed disappointment over the Church's involvement
in ousting Joseph Estrada, a president they perceived to
be corrupt, only to replace him with Gloria Arroyo who
was tagged the most corrupt president in a recent
survey.
"In People Power 1, we were very
satisfied with the result," Lagdameo, president of the
Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said
when asked if bishops are regretting their participation
in Edsa 2.
"The second one, we were somehow
disappointed because People Power 2, with the help of
the Church, installed a president who later on was
judged by surveys as the most corrupt president. That is
embarrassing. Yun yung sinasabi ko na parang
disappointed... na we went from one frying pan to a
worse frying pan," he said.
PRESIDENT Arroyo and Cabinet members
yesterday walked from the Premier Guest House to the State
Dining Room in Malacañang and had their pictures taken for
what the Palace said was a "solidarity walk."
The President and her key officials
usually walk to Guest House, which is about 50 meters away
from the State Dining Room, for the Cabinet meeting. Group
pictures are taken before and after the Cabinet meeting
which is regularly held at the State Dining Room.
"We went through the process of having
all the Cabinet members gather together and have a photo
opportunity with the President just to show the people
that's there's no truth to the efforts of people against
her," said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.
THE first day of the Justice department's
fact-finding investigation on the NBN-ZTE deal provided the
government a chance to justify its award of the national
broadband project to China's ZTE Corp. last year.
DOTC assistant secretary Lorenzo Formoso III
said the ZTE's $329 million contract price was the best deal
compared to the unsolicited proposal of Amsterdam Holdings Inc.
(AHI) of Jose "Joey" de Venecia III.
Formoso said given the kind of technology
being offered by the Chinese firm, the multi-million contract
price for the entire project was reasonable. The ZTE submitted
its proposal in August 2006.
