Published - GMA allies backtrack

By Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star)

Congressmen-allies of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo backtracked yesterday on their decision to mount a “frontal attack” on the Aquino administration.

House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman, who chairs the opposition Lakas party, said nothing would change in their group’s “critical cooperation with the Aquino administration for the national interest.”

Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr., Lakas party president, yesterday denied giving marching orders to party members to go on a full offensive against the Aquino administration.

In a statement, Revilla said that the party “remains an ally of the current administration in all its efforts to alleviate every Filipino’s living condition, eradicate corruption in the government and improve the country’s economic situation while continuing to play its role as a check and balance.”

Surigao del Norte Rep. Jose Aquino II, the party’s secretary-general, said Lakas has a “higher duty to the Filipino people to support government policies that hasten economic development and intensify efforts to fight poverty and corruption.”