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Thursday, February 12, 2004
Gil held inside hotel room over unpaid bill
By Lizanilla J. Amarga
CAGAYAN DE ORO -- Presidential candidate Eddie Gil and his staff were threatened with arrest on Wednesday and were not allowed to leave the VIP Hotel after issuing bogus checks amounting to P69,000.
Eddie Gil, who is scoring less than one percent in opinion polls ahead of the May 10 vote, barred himself in his room when staff of the VIP hotel in Cagayan de Oro City summoned police to have him arrested.
Gil issued checks to VIP Hotel, amounting to P32,000; Barangay Manok Restaurant, worth P27,000; and to Cagayan de Oro College (COC) dxDD TV Channel 39, with P10,000 as payment for broadcast.
Around 20 police officers, including two of the hotel's security guards, held Gil and his entourage at the hotel.
"We will let them go, because they already paid," said local police precinct chief Celso Muntil.
It was only around 4:30 p.m. that Gil, through his treasurer Elizabeth Samson, was able to pay his dues in cash, except for the P480,000 worth of transportation expenses, which the group said were "ghosts" as the drivers were not commissioned to be part of their campaign in the city.
Samson was allowed to leave the hotel to withdraw cash from the Western Union Bank at around 2:30 p.m. She was accompanied by five police officers.
Gil checked into the hotel on Wednesday with some 200 staff and supporters from Manila.
In a press conference, Samson and Gil's executive vice-president Emmanuel Santos said the problems were smear campaigns of Gil's political rivals. Gil claims to be a multi-millionaire businessman and international banker.
A local bus association also said he had paid its members a total of P400,000 join his motorcade through the city. Those checks had also bounced, police said.
Bouncing checks
The P27,000 dinner Gil owed Barangay Manok Restaurant was the total bill left by around 200 supporters who ate at the restaurant Tuesday night but left without paying.
The restaurant's management officer Joy Sayson and their cashier Dolly Nacua had the matter recorded on police blotter Tuesday night.
Gil had then issued a check to cover the bill, but the check was found bogus.
Meantime, the VIP Hotel management also found out that the P32,000 check, issued in payment for Gil and his staff's accommodation, food and miscellaneous expenses, was bogus.
While COC dxDD TV Channel 39 station manager Susan Palmes said the P10,000 broadcast fee was also bogus. She said the contract with Gil's coordinators was actually for P25,000, but they were only issued a Planters Bank check amounting to P10,000.
"We checked the Planters Bank main branch in Buendia, Manila and we were told that this P10,000 check was no longer valid as belonged to a closed account," she said.
Gil's group later paid Palmes only P10,000 after the videotapes for the broadcast coverage were turned over to them as "evidence."
Gil tried to run for the senate in 2001 but was disqualified on grounds that he did not have the financial capability to mount a nationwide campaign.
To the amazement of many, electoral authorities did not disqualify him from this year's presidential race although they barred 79 other obscure figures, including a woman who claimed to be the fiancee of US President George W. Bush.
The 90-day campaign for the May vote kicked off Tuesday, with former movie star Fernando Poe leading incumbent Gloria Arroyo in opinion polls.with AFP
(February 12, 2004 issue)
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