Saturday, October 13, 2007 Cuenco admits getting the cash at Palace meet, later retracts
BARELY eight hours after he admitted in a radio interview that he received a cash gift from the President, Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, south district) said he was only joking during the interview and did not actually receive any amount from Malacañang.
In a radio dyLA interview yesterday morning, Cuenco admitted he was one of the administration congressmen who received an envelope containing P200,000 during their breakfast gathering with Arroyo in Malacañang last Thursday.
But in a phone interview past 3 p.m., he told Sun.Star Cebu he was only kidding when he said there were cash gifts from the President.
“I cracked a joke during that interview. Wala mi hatagi, I said I was only hoping that the President will give us a Christmas gift. Wala’y cash na gihatag ang President, it was a joke and I tried to call Jhunnex (Napallacan, the program host) to clarify but my phone battery ran out,” Cuenco said.
Cuenco further said he is not aware of any cash gift and did not hear from any of his colleagues that they received an envelope containing money when they left the breakfast hall.
The President, he said, simply shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with her allies during the social gathering.
“Nanghinaot lang ko na tingali, hatagan na sad mi sa Presidente ug pinaskohan kay (I was just hoping that the President might give us a Christmas gift because) usual man na for her and I said I hope this Christmas she will give us gifts again.
But it’s not true that we got it last Thursday, intriga ra na tanan (these are all just intrigues),” he added.
The rest of the congressmen from Cebu also stressed there was no money involved in the meeting, most of them not taking the allegations seriously.
“Binuang ra na uy. Makatawa man sad ta (That’s almost laughable),” said Rep. Benhur Salimbangon (Cebu, fourth district.)
Salimbangon added in jest that he hopes his barangay captains will not hear of the speculations, as they all might come to his office asking for their share.
Deputy Speaker Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north district), also denied the talks.
“Of course not, what does she have to pay off? There’s nothing for her to pay off. I never received anything,” said del Mar, referring to President Arroyo.
Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz joined in, saying there was no mention of the impeachment case against the President during their meeting, and certainly no money was given.
“Wa uy. We would have been happy if that was the case,” Soon-Ruiz said, laughing.
Rep. Pablo John Garcia (Cebu, third district) also jokingly asked where his share was, because he did not receive any money.
As for Rep. Pablo Garcia (Cebu, second district), he said he will not say anything about the issue.
Palace aides denied reports that Malacañang distributed thousands of cash and committed millions worth of pork barrel to administration lawmakers who went to the breakfast meeting.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye and Presidential Management Staff Director-General Cerge Remonde both branded as “rumors” the reports that envelopes containing P200, 000 to P500,000 were distributed to the congressmen that belonged to the Lakas Christian Muslim democrats, the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino and Nationalist People’s Coalition in exchange for the dismissal of the impeachment complaint.
“If rumor-mongering could only generate income, the Philippines would have the highest GDP (gross domestic product) in the world,” Bunye said.
Lawyer Rafael Pulido filed last week an impeachment complaint against President Arroyo, her third in three years. He accused President Arroyo of betrayal of public trust for failing to act on the alleged bribery in the $329-million National Broadband Network deal with Chinese firm ZTE Corp. President Arroyo later cancelled the deal.
Laguna Rep. Edgar San Luis endorsed the impeachment complaint, which was transmitted to the committee on rules Thursday by Deputy Speaker del Mar, after Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. inhibited himself from handing the impeachment. (LCR/JPM/With Sunnex)
