MT. SAMAT, Bataan -- Saying what the people need are "food on the table, not politics on the frontpage," President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo lashed out at her critics for continuing to engage in investigation and political jockeying even amid the fuel and rice price spike.
Instead, Arroyo said now was the time for political leaders to "join hands and to close ranks" to meet the challenge.
“This is no time for political posturing. We need food on the table, not headlines in the newspapers. We must invest not just investigate. It’s time for action, not political wrangling,†she said in a speech at the commemoration of the “Araw ng Kagitingan†(Day of Valor) here.
Arroyo said the people wanted the government to focus on "positive agenda" instead of "political jockeying."
"No endless investigation will put rice on the table, a computer in classroom or health clinic in a barangay (village). We must put the interest of the individual Filipino above else and make sure to reassure our people that we are providing a steady and strong leadership at this critical point in time. To repeat, we must put rice on the table and not politics on the front page," she said.
Arroyo said that measures were in place to deal with the fuel and food price spike. But at the same time, Arroyo said the government would not lose sight on improving education, the economy, and the environment while it dealt with the rice problem.
Several senators vowed to continue with its investigation of the national broadband network scandal that implicated the President and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo.
The rice problem and the swine fund scam are also among the issues lawmakers said they also wanted investigated.
On Tuesday, a University of the Philippines professor said the government could just be projecting the rice crisis to divert attention from corruption issues.
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