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Tuesday, September 02, 2003
Lacson’s latest charge: Mike Arroyo has P260M
MANILA -- Opposition Senator Panfilo Lacson accused First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo Monday of allegedly depositing a total of P260 million obtained from underground deals and transactions in 12 secret bank accounts.
The senator, in his privileged speech at the Senate, delivered the second part of his exposé against Mike Arroyo entitled "The Incredible Hulk, Alam ba ni Mrs. Itoh?" also accusing him of having money remitted from at least four international banks to his secret accounts in the country.
President Arroyo's spokesman Ignacio Bunye said she is distancing herself from the accusations, adding the P1.35 million which Lacson alleged was deposited by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office in the Jose Pidal account "can be cleared up routinely" in the course of a Senate investigation.
Bunye said President Arroyo is promising the Senate access to all government records, which are open to the public unless classified as detrimental to national security, to aid its investigation into Lacson's allegations.
Lacson enumerated before senators Monday the local accounts allegedly opened and maintained by Mike Arroyo and his cronies in at least six commercial banks.
"As of July 30, 2003, Jose Pidal and his laundry machines have 12 local bank accounts with more than P260 million in recent deposits. Mr. Jose Pidal, alam ba ni Mrs. Itoh?" Lacson said in his speech.
These are newly discovered bank accounts, he added.
The first batch of bank accounts allegedly totaling P270 million was revealed in the first part of Lacson's exposé last week.
More accounts
Jose Pidal, who Lacson insists is Mike Arroyo, and Victoria "Vicky" Toh allegedly have at least three joint bank accounts with Philam Savings Bank and Union Bank of the Philippines amounting to P72.7 million.
"For Jose Pidal and his laundry machines, seven more new bank accounts with P128 million more in deposits have been discovered," Lacson added and revealed that some of the accounts were named under trusted men like Thomas Toh Jr. and Kelvin Tan.
In claiming that Jose Pidal and Mike Arroyo are one and the same, Lacson cited the similarities in their signatures and the sworn statement of the senator's witness, Eugenio "Udong" Mahusay, who has since jumped over to the government side.
He rejected the declaration of Mike Arroyo's brother, businessman Ignacio Arroyo, that he is the real Jose Pidal and that he used an alias when he opened the account for security reasons.
Lacson further said a total of P18.8 million were remitted from international banks to the Jose Pidal accounts.
Among the international transactions are: P2.8 million from Western Union of Hong Kong (January 2003); P2.6 million and P1.8 million from the account of Ricardo Medrano in International Commercial Bank of China (May 2003 and July 2003); P2.5 million from the account of Luis Abelino Corosco in Western Union-Hong Kong (July 21, 2003); P2.75 million from bank of East Asia in Hong Kong (January 2003); P3.3 million from East Asia Bank (May 2003); and P2.8 million from the account of John Telimco in International Commercial Bank of Asia.
Lacson challenged Ignacio to sign a special power of attorney in his favor so he would be allowed to withdraw the millions in the bank accounts. He said he would distribute every peso he will recover to Senate employees.
Senate investigation
The senator also urged Mike Arroyo to appear before the Senate investigation Tuesday to explain the existence of the bank accounts.
"Mike Arroyo's recent denial of my allegations has not set him free at all. He knows the truth but has become blind to it. A Senate investigation is now the order of the day. Mr. Arroyo must come and appear before the three committees -- without condition, without hesitation," Lacson stressed.
The Senate blue ribbon committee, together with the constitutional amendments, revisions of codes and laws and banks, financial institutions and currencies committees, promised to start investigating Lacson's allegations on Tuesday.
The blue ribbon committee summoned Ignacio to a hearing Tuesday after he claimed Monday he is Jose Pidal. The invitation was given to Ignacio through Arnold Clavio of GMA-7.
Lacson alleged that Ignacio is being used as a fall guy, and recalled that he is the same guy who claimed ownership of two buildings in downtown San Francisco attributed to President Arroyo and her husband.
The three Senate committees also summoned the chairman of Lualhati Foundation to the hearing. All in all, the committee has invited 18 individuals to help in its investigation.
Sen. Joker Arroyo, chairman of the Blue Ribbon, said that they would try to ferret out the truth during the hearings.
About six persons invited to the hearing have said they will come, among them some bank officials and Mahusay, according to the records of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms.
Wrong information
Interviewed separately, PCSO Chief Ma. Livia Singson-de Leon said she has ordered officials in the budget and accounting and treasury divisions to "verify and dig into the records" to ascertain the veracity of Lacson's claims.
"It will only take a few minutes (to find out). (But) Jose Pidal doesn't ring a bell at all na dumaan sa akin na tseke (that a check with such name was released). Lahat ay (All are) recorded. We can get into the bottom of this," De Leon said.
De Leon later told a television station PCSO released no such checks to Jose Pidal. A Land Bank check dated Feb. 26, 2001 and with the number mentioned by Lacson was released to lotto winner Fortunato Tira-Tira. It was for only P23,000.
Another PCSO-issued check, of the Philippine National Bank account cited by Lacson, was for only P40,000. It was given as "medical assistance" to a certain Leonora Vinedez in Nov. 8, 2002.
She said Lacson may have been "fed the wrong information or a fabricated information. And if ever he was given anything more than just information, I would think these would be spurious documents."
Lawyer Jesus Santos, counsel of Mike Arroyo, told radio station dzMM that Lacson's second exposé are "pure lies" and that the senator possesses no proof that would stand in court.
Santos urged Lacson to just file a case in court so it could order bank officials to produce pertinent records. He warned Lacson against repeating his allegations outside the halls of Congress or risk courting additional libel charges. JPM/She Caguimbal-Torres
(September 2, 2003 issue)
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