Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has been proved innocent after a potential witness in a looming impeachment case against her backed out following a tearful televised apology, her spokesman said yesterday.
A sobbing Richard Garcia, a self-confessed bagman of the illegal lottery called jueteng, said at a televised news conference on Thursday that he did not wish to testify against Arroyo.
He apologized to the president and also accused the opposition of putting pressure on him and other witnesses before an ongoing congressional probe into illegal gambling to try and link Arroyo's family to the racket.
conspiracy
"The conspiracy to destabilize the presidency through the blackest propaganda has been unmasked," presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in a statement.
"What Garcia revealed is enough to vindicate the president and her family," he said.
But an alleged link between the jueteng gambling racket and the Arroyo family is just one of the political scandals facing the embattled leader.
impeachment
Opposition legislators have also filed an impeachment complaint seeking Arroyo's removal from office for alleged vote-rigging, corruption, and human rights violations among other charges.
The president's son, Juan Miguel Arroyo, has gone on indefinite leave from his seat in the House of Representatives after another witness -- not Garcia -- at the Senate hearings accused him of taking jueteng payoffs.
The impeachment complaint is 37 signatures short of the number needed in the 236-member House of Representatives to send it before the Senate for trial.
apology
Bunye said Garcia's apology "sends a strong message to the Filipino public not to fall prey to the smear and deception tactics of those who have no other agenda except to bring the President down."
Nevertheless, Bunye said Arroyo has "set up the team to handle the legal and communication aspects of the impeachment case."
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