Former President Benigno Aquino III and his allies had spent their six years in office accusing former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of being corrupt, but must now answer for the corruption during their term, President Rodrigo Duterte said over the weekend.
Responding to criticism by the Liberal Party officials of the Aquino administration who questioned his declaration of martial law in Mindanao, President Duterte said they should respond instead to their “six years of corruption.”
Duterte also challenged the martial law critics to live in Marawi, Zamboanga and Jolo to see if they might change their minds.
“It’s so easy to talk [and] to criticize,” Duterte said.
Several corruption scandals hit the administration of President Aquino, who ran on the “straight path” anti-corruption platform.
These include a multi-billion-peso scam in which pork barrel funds were siphoned to non-existent organizations, a questionable maintenance contract for the commuter train system, the proliferation of drugs in the national penitentiary, and the rampant smuggling of agricultural commodities, including rice.
Aquino’s allies in the Liberal Party in both chambers of Congress have been vocal in criticizing Duterte for his bloody war on drugs and his declaration of martial law in Mindanao in response to a terrorist attack on Marawi City.