Instead of continuing to insult the Filipino people’s intelligence, Malacañang should let controversial “presidential aide” Remedios “Medy” Poblador bare the truth behind attempts to cover up the “Hello Garci” mess in 2005. 

Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson stressed this Sunday as he rebuffed claims of Cabinet members that Poblador “acted on her own” when she dispatched a government helicopter to bring Balanga Bishop Socrates Villegas to “rescue” former military spy Vidal Doble Jr. from the San Carlos Seminary.

“I urge Malacañang to bring Medy Poblador out to bare the truth. (Cabinet Secretary Ricardo) Saludo’s statement that Medy acted on her own in misleading the bishops into believing that a military assault on San Carlos Seminary was imminent on June 13, 2005 simply insults our intelligence,” Lacson said.

Last weekend, Saludo claimed Poblador acted on her own when she sent a government helicopter to “fetch” Villegas from Bataan. Villegas said he acted because Poblador had told him the military was about to assault the seminary.

“Is Medy really so powerful that she could dispatch a government helicopter to fetch Bishop Soc, even using the facilities of the Bataan police?” Lacson asked, noting that Poblador is one of two personalities allowed to ride with President Arroyo in her presidential limousine.

He also noted Doble’s statement before the Senate last Friday that Poblador was one of the personalities he saw at the quarters of then Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Efren Abu, where his wife and two children were “detained.”

It was the “custody” of his family in the Armed Forces that kept Doble from baring the truth about the “Hello Garci” tapes in 2005.

On the other hand, Lacson noted that Villegas corroborated Doble’s testimony, adding there may have even been some misleading on the part of Poblador when she told the bishop that the military was about to attack the seminary at any time.

Villegas had said he “cooperated” in bringing out Doble from the seminary not because he wanted to help the government but because he wanted to protect the seminarians.

“More questions need to be answered now that Malacañang’s direct role in suppressing the truth has been bared wide open with the testimony of T/Sgt. Vidal Doble and the letter of Bishop Soc which completely corroborated Doble’s statement during the hearing of the Hello Garci controversy,” Lacson said.

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