Wednesday, January 24, 2007 First Gentleman, lawmaker engage in heated argument during ethics committee hearing
* Committee to send reps to Germany to look for account
THE accused has finally confronted the accuser and it was not a healthy confrontation.
This, when House Deputy Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano cross-examined First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo on the alleged multimillion-dollar account allegedly maintained by the First Family in a German bank.
As the House committee on ethics searches the truth behind the alleged account, the committee has decided to go to Germany to literally look for the truth.
The committee headed by Representative Roberto Cajes of Bohol approved the sending of a five-man fact finding team to verify if such account exists in the Hypo Vereinsbank in Munich, three weeks before the Congress adjourns the session.
During the resumption of the hearing on the resumption on the expulsion case filed by the Arroyos against Cayetano, the First Gentleman, as expected denied the accusations made by the legislator that he or anybody in his family is maintaining multi-million dollar account with Hypo Vereinsbank in Munich, Germany.
Cayetano who was just aided by only six members of the opposition and a counsel, was “insulted” by the First Gentleman inside a room packed with the Arroyo supporters.
Worse, the insults did not only come from Arroyo but from Cayetano’s colleagues as well as they hit him for fabricating lies regarding the alleged controversial account.
At the start of the cross-examination, the First Gentleman made a statement that he was so embarrassed because Cayetano came from Ateneo just like him.
The First Gentleman hit Cayetano’s way of cross-examining a witness.
“The problem with you, you’re not a practicing lawyer. When the judge (committee chairman) made a ruling on something, that’s it. You don’t even have to argue with the witness,” Arroyo said.
The First Gentleman, who was accompanied by counsel Ruy Orendain, objected to most of the questions raised by the congressman, claiming they were all irrelevant to the case at hand.
It just happened that most of the objections raised by the First Gentleman were sustained by the committee chairman.
Arroyo maintained that the certification that he secured from the bank in August last year is enough to prove that he and his family do not maintain any account with the bank.
But Cayetano was not convinced and said that the best way to determine if there is indeed no account being maintained by the Arroyos, either secret or not, is for the First Gentleman to sign a waiver.
Cayetano said when the First Gentleman signs a waiver, it should be a waiver that would waive not the account but his or his family’s right to the secrecy of any account supposedly maintained in the bank.
Arroyo insisted that there is nothing to waive and in order for the congressman to determine the truth is for him to go with him and the team that will be sent by the committee to authenticate bank documents related to the supposed bank accounts of the Arroyos with Hypovereinsbank.
Earlier in the hearing, the committee approved the motion of Zamboanga del Sur Representative Antonio Cerilles that the body sends a team to Munich to authenticate all bank documents including the certification that the Arroyos have submitted to the body.
Cayetano and party-list Representative Loretta Ann Rosales believed that there is no need for a team to go there to authenticate the necessary documents unless if it would go with a waiver coming from Arroyo.
The majority and the minority will choose two from each bloc to accompany the panel chairman.
The travel expense alone for each representative could cost at least P200,000 excluding miscellaneous expenses and allowances. The House will shoulder the expenses.
Representative Eduardo Gullas of Cebu, who seconded Cerilles’ motion, said the body should go out of its way to get to the truth since it is the fate of their colleague which is at stake.
Alagad party-list Representative Rodante Marcoleta said spending taxpayers’ money is a small price to pay to arrive to the truth. He said he had been in Germany twice.
But for Cayetano the trip would only shield the truth from the people.
He added that administration’s allies are glaringly “shielding” the First Gentleman from questions on their alleged questionable wealth. He maintained that he would resign at once if only Arroyo signed a waiver. (DBP/Sunnex)
