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Friday, September 05, 2003
Mike's brod is Jose Pidal: PNP handwriting experts
MANILA -- Ignacio Arroyo and Jose Pidal "are one and the same," handwriting experts from the PNP Crime Laboratory in Manila said Thursday.
Arroyo, a younger brother of First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo, is expected to present the findings when he faces the Senate next week.
The younger Arroyo requested the handwriting analysis after he claimed to be the Jose Pidal behind a multi-million-peso account. Arroyo said he used an alias to protect himself from kidnappers.
"The signatures were written by one and the same person," said Dr. Mely Sora, one of the experts, in an announcement aired by Manila radio stations.
The police and the National Bureau of Investigation, after separate inspections, showed the signatures of Mike Arroyo and Pidal were written by different people.
Opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson has claimed that Mike Arroyo laundered and hid in the Pidal accounts millions in campaign contributions.
Arroyo has sued the senator for libel.
As part of an ongoing inquiry, Sen. Edgardo Angara said Thursday he will seek a legal opinion on whether the Senate can ask the court to compel the opening of the Pidal accounts.
The Bank Deposits Secrecy Law and the Anti-Money Laundering Act kept the Senate from investigating deeper into the accounts.
But Angara said the Senate is not helpless, and that the special power of attorney that Ignacio Arroyo gave Senate President Franklin Drilon might give the Senate more information.
Drilon has returned the document to the younger Arroyo and asked him to sign it as Jose Pidal.
Sen. Joker Arroyo, chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee, said Ignacio Arroyo and 17 other persons were invited to attend next week's hearings.
Also expected to make a second appearance is Eugenio Mahusay, a former employee of the presidential family, who was supposed to be Lacson's prime witness until he recanted his statements Tuesday. (From the wires)
(September 5, 2003 issue)
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