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Sunday, October 14, 2007
Palace aide: ‘Money may have changed hands’
MANILA -- Money may have changed hands during the Thursday breakfast meeting in Malacañang between President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her allies in the House of Representatives, a senior Palace aide admitted Saturday.
Presidential Management Staff director general Cerge Remonde was however quick to state that it was not Arroyo who handed out the money during the meeting but someone else other than the President.
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“That is a possibility but in so far as the President is concerned hindi kami nanunuhol (we don’t bribe anyone),” he said over dzRH radio, when asked about the possibility that someone “other than Arroyo” gave the money.
He quickly added though that he “can only speak for the President.”
Remonde also sought to quell reports that Cebu Representative Antonio Cuenco admitted getting money at the meeting.
Cuenco in a radio interview Friday morning in Cebu City admitted he was one of the administration congressmen who received an envelope containing P200,000 during their breakfast gathering with Arroyo in Malacañang last Thursday.
But in a phone interview past 3 p.m. Friday, he told Sun.Star Cebu he was only kidding when he said there were cash gifts from the President.
“I cracked a joke during that interview. Wala mi hatagi, I said I was only hoping that the President will give us a Christmas gift. Wala’y cash na gihatag ang President, it was a joke and I tried to call Jhunnex (Napallacan, the program host) to clarify but my phone battery ran out,” Cuenco said.
“Sabi niya he was only joking daw (Cuenco claimed he was just joking),” Remonde said, adding Cuenco made the “clarification” when he called him up after reading the newspaper report.
Thursday’s meeting fueled speculations that Arroyo bribed the lawmakers into quashing an impeachment case filed against her by lawyer Rafael Pulido.
But House minority leader Ronaldo Zamora noted that the impeachment was “designed to fail,” and admitted no credible investigation can take place because Arroyo’s allies control the House.
Zamora, in an earlier interview radio interview, admitted the only way an honest investigation can take place is for one of the recipients to surface and admit being bribed.
“We maintain walang bribery (We maintain there was no bribery),” Remonde said.
The Palace bribery reports further strengthen speculations that Malacanang is really out to kill the impeachment complaint.
Earlier in the House of Representatives, Anakpawis Representative Crispin Beltran identified Francis Ver, deputy secretary general of the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi), as the supposed Malacañang operator who allegedly offered him P2 million in exchange for endorsing the complaint.
Ver was the former chief of staff of ex-Manila representative Mark Jimenez and Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, Kampi chairman, when the latter was still the representative of Antipolo City.
Pulido filed last week an impeachment complaint against President Arroyo, her third in three years. He accused President Arroyo of betrayal of public trust for failing to act on the alleged bribery in the $329-million National Broadband Network deal with Chinese firm ZTE Corp. President Arroyo later cancelled the deal.
Laguna Representative Edgar San Luis endorsed the impeachment complaint, which was transmitted to the committee on rules Thursday by Deputy Speaker del Mar, after Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. inhibited himself from handing the impeachment. (JMR/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos. (October 14, 2007 issue)
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