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Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Military says Lacson witness involved in scam
MANILA -- The military Tuesday sought to discredit an upcoming witness in the Senate investigation on jueteng even before he could testify Wednesday, branding him a "scam artist" who sold fake mission orders and intelligence ID cards.
In a press conference Tuesday, the military identified the surprise witness trumpeted by Senator Panfilo Lacson as Captain Marlon Mendoza, who is facing pretrial investigation by a military tribunal for selling fake ID cards from the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
"With a captain...falsifying documents (to raise) at least P8 million, you be the judge what kind of person he is," said military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Buenaventura Pascual.
Lacson earlier said he will present in Wednesday morning's Senate jueteng inquiry another witness, an active military man who will corroborate the testimony of former Malacañang employee Michaelangelo Zuce on the alleged payoff of election officials and involvement of the President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her family in jueteng operations.
The Armed Forces exposed the charges against Mendoza a day before he was to testify before the Senate as Lacson's star witness.
Contacted for comment Tuesday, Lacson said the military leadership should be careful in trying to discredit Mendoza, saying this could agitate sympathetic junior officers and cause instability within the military.
A Palace official, however, said any new witness presented by Arroyo's critics would suffer a credibility problem, after two of them--Richard Garcia and Demosteles Abraham Riva - said they had been coached by the opposition to link the President's family to the illegal numbers game.
"Their strategy has been exposed," said Presidential Spokesperson Ignacio Bunye. "We don't think it will materially affect the inquiry because we know some of the witnesses have actually vindicated the President and the First Family."
Bunye also advised the President's detractors to close down their "witness academy" because their graduates have failed miserably the tests of truth and credibility.
"By now, the public must be tired of their antics of dangling so-called surprise witnesses who eventually repudiate their own allegations," Bunye said. "These allegations are double-dead and should now be six feet under."
Missing
In his press briefing Tuesday, Pascual said Mendoza had gone missing in the last two weeks.
"We looked for him in his quarters; he was not there. He has a subpoena for the pretrial, but we can't find him at the moment," Pascual said. He warned that Mendoza will be violating military regulations if he testifies at the Senate hearing without authority from his superiors.
Pascual said Mendoza was a member of the Kawal Pilipino group, which criticized the government in February 2004 for allegedly using the military to ensure Arroyo's election victory.
He said Mendoza sold about 2,500 mission orders for amounts ranging from P2,000 to P5,000 during his stint as assistant group commander of the Intelligence Service of the AFP (Isafp) from January to October 2003.
If the average amount for each mission order Mendoza sold was P3,500, Pascual said the former intelligence agent could have generated about P8.7 million.
Apart from mission orders, other documents allegedly issued by Mendoza to several unauthorized persons were appointments as intelligence office civilian agents, identification cards, and memorandum receipts.
Asked why the military is going after Mendoza now for charges that were filed two years ago, Pascual said they were merely "following the process" of prosecuting those who have committed anomalies within the military.
Military records showed that Mendoza was relieved from the intelligence service in November 2003 because of the falsification case. He had been placed on "floating status" at the military headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.
In hiding
Despite the attack on his character, Mendoza seemed determined to testify.
"I could not stomach the fact that the Filipino people was (sic) fooled. The electorate was cheated," he said in a text message sent to Camp Aguinaldo reporters.
"See you at the Senate, to God be the glory," he added.
Mendoza said he had gone into hiding once the whistle-blower Zuce surfaced.
"I know well how the ISAFP and the AFP play," he said, claiming that the military and members of the Presidential Security Group are hot on his and his family's trail.
He said he doesn't know Lacson personally.
Lacson, for his part, said Mendoza is set on testifying and issued a warning to the military brass.
"I must caution the AFP leadership because the junior officers are watching them," he said. "Don't underestimate the sensitivities of the junior officers. (Stopping Mendoza from testifying) might drive them into taking action to destabilize the AFP and the country as well."
Lacson accused the Presidential Security Group of trying to "snatch" Mendoza from his house in San Luis, Batangas last Saturday.
"What were the three PSG teams doing in Batangas?" Lacson asked, noting that the First Family wasn't there.
For his part, the chairman of the investigating panel, Senator Manuel Villar, described as a panic reaction the military effort to destroy Mendoza's credibility.
"I am puzzled why the AFP is trying to impeach the witness' credibility. He will only testify before the Senate. The witness must have know something very damaging (to the AFP)," Villar said. (Manila Standard Today/With JFF/Sunnex)
(August 10, 2005 issue)
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