|
Wednesday, December 18, 2002
Lawmaker's P8M went to charity: Mike
MANILA -- First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo said Tuesday that Manila sixth district Rep. Mark Jimenez did gave P8 million in 1999 but not to him or to the President but to several charitable institutions that include the Lualhati Foundation.
Jose Miguel told local radio Jimenez is "suffering from delusions" so that he is now "trying to involve me and even the Supreme Court justices."
The congressman, according to President Arroyo, called her up early Tuesday and apologized for accusing her husband and the SC justices of conniving to pressure him over his extradition case.
Jimenez also promised to leave the country "in a couple of days" to surrender to the United States government, added Arroyo.
But the First Gentleman, also on Tuesday, rejected the congressman's sorry and demanded he should issue a public apology.
The congressman said on national television Monday night that Arroyo's husband and five newly appointed SC justices were pressuring him over his extradition case.
He also said he gave P8 million to the First Gentleman but did not say what the money was for, although he promised to provide additional details in a privilege speech before the House of Representatives Tuesday afternoon.
Jimenez also claimed agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) were stalking him apparently to arrest him.
Apology, surrender
But on Tuesday, Jimenez reportedly called up Arroyo in Pampanga where she was inaugurating the Lake Shore Model Homes project and apologized for his accusations.
"I just talked to him. He called me up this (Tuesday) morning. He apologized to me," the President said.
Arroyo said Jimenez told him he had given up his struggle to contest his extradition to the United States for tax fraud and illegal campaign contributions after the Supreme Court reaffirmed Tuesday an earlier decision canceling the congressman's P1 million bail bond.
She said Jimenez promised her he would voluntarily surrender to local authorities in preparation for his extradition to the US.
"He's turning himself in and he will leave in a couple of days," Arroyo further said.
In a ruling, the SC urged Jimenez, also known as Mario B. Crespo, to return to the United States and face the pending multiple charges against him there or face arrest and extradition.
In a 4-page resolution, the 15-member SC en banc said Jimenez "can avoid arrest and detention which are the consequences of the extradition proceeding simply by applying for bail before the courts trying the criminal cases against him in the US."
Tuesday's ruling "denied with finality" the motion for reconsideration filed by Jimenez last October 10 seeking a reversal of the SC's September 24 decision canceling the congressman's bail.
A victory
According to the SC, Jimenez "has not given compelling reason to warrant a reversal or modification" of the court's earlier decision.
"He himself has repeatedly told us that the indictments against him in the United States are bailable. Furthermore, he is capable, financially and otherwise, of producing the necessary bail in the US. Why then has he not done so?" the SC said in its ruling turning down the congressman's plea.
The High Court said Jimenez has the "power" to escape arrest and detention arising from his extradition case by simply going to the US and filing for bail.
Undersecretary Merceditas Gutierrez told reporters the ruling by the SC "was a victory for the Department of Justice, which had been seeking the congressman's extradition since the Estrada administration.
Under the extradition treaty, only the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has sole authority to conduct the arrest of a person to be extradited to the United States.
Voting in favor of the SC ruling Tuesday were Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide and Justices Vicente Mendoza, Artemio Panganiban, Antonio Carpio, Ma. Alicia Austria-Martinez, Renato Corona, Romeo Callejo, Conchita Morales, and Adolfo Azcuna.
Magistrates Jose Vitug, Consuelo Yñares-Santiago, and Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez voted against the majority decision while Associate Justices Josue Bellosillio, Reynato S. Puno, and Leonardo Quisumbing filed a separate opinion.
The office of Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 42 Judge Guillermo Purganan, who issued the warrant of arrest against Jimenez and later allowed him to post bail said it "will abide by the ruling of the SC."
Several charities
The First Gentleman, meanwhile, said Jimenez gave a total donation of P8 million to several charities in 1999, in explaining the congressman's accusations.
According to him, the Lualhati Foundation was just one of the many institutions that benefited from the P8 million.
"That money never went to me. Yang perang yan ay pumunta sa mga (The money went to) foundations para tumulong (to help people). We have different foundations...we have the KKK, the Kontra Kurakot Foundation. These are all our supporters. They were supporting us. Lalo na yung Lualhati Foundation," Jose Miguel said.
Presidential spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said it was Bulacan Rep. Willie Villarama who solicited money from Jimenez when he was still part of the President's office when she was still vice president in 1999.
The institutions, according to the First Gentleman, particularly the Lualhati Foundation, which was founded in 1993, served to benefit street children, through supplemental feeding programs, medical missions to slum areas, drug-rehabilitation programs, and offered computer literacy programs.
"We have receipts for the donations," he said.
Tiglao added the money was deposited in the bank account of the Lualhati Foundation.
Jose Miguel said Jimenez's insinuation that the money given in 1999 was meant to bribe the SC justices in relation to the congressman's extradition case, which was brought against him recently, was preposterous.
He added that Jimenez was a desperate man facing extradition, who will "hold on to anything" to evade arrest. Sunnex |
|
|
|
 |
| click
to comment on this article or discuss it with other readers |
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
NBI told: Be clean, bare civvie agents