Tuesday, May 06, 2008 Emano recants, says Hanjin did not offer bribe
SAYING he was only "misquoted," Tagoloan Mayor Paulino Emano denied he intended to paint as bribe the P400 million worth of contract that South Korean giant Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Corp. had allegedly offered him.
The mayor, who is in hot water over Hanjin's withdrawal of its $2 billion shipyard project in Misamis Oriental, blamed the media and "some big politicians" for supposedly orchestrating a smear campaign against him.
National television network GMA quoted Emano last week as saying that President Gloria Macapaga-Arroyo merely ignored him when he tried to bring up Hahjin's alleged offer to him.
"I did not-in truth and in fact-accused Hanjin of attempting to bribe me, nor did I extorted anything from Hanjin," said Emano in a press conference in Cagayan de Oro Monday.
Emano said the sum of P400 million indeed cropped-up during his meeting with Hanjin project manager Guk Hun Choi sometime in March, when the Hanjin official requested the diversion of the Tagoloan river for the shipyard's aggregates requirement.
Sensing his "non-committal" stance on the request, Emano said: "Choi may have been prompted to ask if I am not interested in the sand and gravel project considering it would amount to P400 million."
The mayor did not say whether he initially thought the P400 million as a bribe, but claimed that he came to realize at a later time that Choi had been "referring to the enormous financial benefit that may redound to the municipality and its inhabitants."
Meanwhile, Villanueva Mayor Juliette Uy, the second town official who is being investigated by the Interior department in the alleged extortion, was nowhere to be seen. He declined an interview with Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro Monday.
A spokesperson of Uy however denied her involvement in the alleged extortion.
