The Wealth of the Arroyos

First of Three Parts
by Malou Mangahas

A FORTNIGHT ago in her ninth State of the Nation Address, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo fired sharp, staccato broadsides at her critics, and in a tone bold and boastful declared: “I am falsely accused, without proof, of using my position for personal profit.”
There isn’t a day,” she said, “I do not work at my job or a waking moment when I do not think through a work-related problem. Even my critics cannot begrudge the long hours I put in.”
“A president must be on the job 24/7, ready for any contingency, any crisis, anywhere, anytime,” Arroyo continued, because “the people deserve a government that works just as hard as they do.”
By all indications, President Arroyo has worked very hard. In fact, she has worked so hard that during her first years as president, official records show her declared wealth as growing faster, and by amounts much bigger, than the combined growth in the declared wealth of three presidents before her.
The late President Corazon C. Aquino’s declared net worth grew by only 4.8 percent from 1989 to 1992. By comparison, Fidel V. Ramos’s rose by 34.2 percent from 1992 to 1998, and Joseph ‘Erap’ Ejercito Estrada’s, by 7.2 percent from 1998 to1999.
PCIJ reports in 2000, though, revealed that the mansions and other assets held by Estrada and his mistresses were worth multiple times more than his declared net worth. Less than a year later, Arroyo came to power after a botched impeachment trial of Estrada for unexplained wealth triggered a people-power revolt.
Exponential growth
But the lessons of Estrada’s downfall seem to have been lost on Arroyo. In her eight years in office, Arroyo’s declared net worth more than doubled (pegged only on the book or acquisition value of her assets), from P66.8 million in 2001 to P143.54 million in 2008. The increase of P76.74 million represents a growth rate of 114 percent.
If her statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALNs) are plotted from 17 years ago when she first served as senator, Arroyo’s declared wealth charts an exponential growth of 2,000 percent.
Her net worth in 1992 was only P6.73 million; for eight years before the presidency, her wealth grew by a heftier P60.07 million or a rise of 890 percent.
Since she got into Malacanang in 2001, Arroyo added P10.97 million to her net worth year on year on average, or 20 times more than her lawful gross salary as president of only P45,000 a month.
If various allowances are thrown in, her monthly pay would total at most P100,000 or P1.2 million a year before tax. Yet even then, this represents only 10 percent of the P10.97-million average annual increase in Arroyo’s net worth since 2001.
Arroyo’s SALNs, however, offer few clues on how she raised the big difference, or whether she has other lawful sources of income. Since 2001, the president has apparently taken the path of token compliance instead of going for full disclosure in form and substance of her assets and liabilities, according to the Constitution and law. As a result, her SALNs in the last eight years have been remarkably full of gaps in data.
For sure, they pale in comparison to the detailed documentation that former Presidents Aquino and Ramos exemplified in their SALNs. Both Aquino and Ramos even attached to their SALNs photocopies of their income-tax returns (ITRs) and checks attesting to payments they made with the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Arroyo did not attach her ITRs.
Not a good example
At the very least, Arroyo’s SALNs may not pass as what should be expected from the chief executive, who ideally sets the example for all of the country’s 1.5 million civil servants.
Comments Karina Constantino-David, who worked as Civil Service Commission (CSC) chairperson under Arroyo: “When a high official like the president is unable to fulfill the responsibilities expected of her according to the constitution, how can she convince other public servants to take seriously the dictum ‘Public office is a public trust’?”
In recent years, token compliance with the law on filing SALNs had caused mayors, military officers, customs and revenue officials, and other civil servants of less senior status jail terms, stiff fines, and dismissal or suspension from work.
Failure to disclose properties in the name of his wife and children, for instance, earned Armed Forces general Carlos Garcia a two-year stint in jail.
While in the National Bilibid Prisons for murder and rape, former Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez was also fined P5,000 per year for four years for what lawyers say passes for perjury by omission: defective compliance or non-compliance with the SALN law. More details

Scandals

Second in a series on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's 9th State of the Nation Address
A guide to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's legacy: a yearly calendar of shock-and-awe stories that involve corruption in high places and weak leadership. Research by Lei Chavez, abs-cbnnews.com

2001

‘Payola’ for FG

Barely had President Arroyo warmed her seat when the first in a series of scandals involving the first family erupted. Correspondence secretary Veronica "Bing" Rodrigo accused first gentleman Mike Arroyo of taking a P50-million bribe in July 2001. The bribery was said to be for President Arroyo to recall her veto on two franchise bills. The first bill involved the Philippine Communication Clearinghouse which sought a franchise to operate a clearinghouse where telco firms were to interconnect for a certain fee. The second bill granted APC Wireless Interface Network a franchise to build a wireless telecommunication system nationwide.

The companies were allegedly owned by Jaime Dichavez, a close friend of former President Joseph Estrada, who allegedly used Pacifico Marcelo as his dummy. According to Rodrigo, a woman named Malou Nuñez from the office of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office under Gabriel Claudio approached her, inquiring about the request to veto the bills.

Rodrigo is a friend of the president, having been classmates in grade school and high school. Their parents were close friends.

Marcelo alleged that President Arroyo called him to stop lobbying for the franchise and that the three of them—the First Couple and Marcelo—will establish their own company. Marcelo turned down the offer.

The president did not recall her veto of both bills. Arroyo also said that the First Gentleman never asked her to recall the veto. Her husband denied receiving any money and claimed that Rodrigo was the one who received the bribe. Rodrigo later retracted her allegations in the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing.

PCSO funds for admin candidates’ campaign

In October 2001, Roberto Rivero, former consultant of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes (PCSO), claimed that the first gentleman used almost $5 million of PCSO funds to finance the campaign of some senatorial candidates and to bribe radio commentators. President Arroyo asked the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate her husband. The PCSO denied Rivero's accusations. When asked by the Ombudsman for evidence, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who exposed this, was unable to present any.

Years later, in May 2007, another former PCSO senior executive, Cirilo Avila, said the funds were made to appear as payment for ad placements but were really used as People Power Coalition (PPC) campaign funds. Avila narrated that the PPC requested the funds and manager Ver Angelo took it up with the board. The request was approved.

Nani Perez’s ‘extortion’

Four days after assuming office, Arroyo awarded a $470-million contract to Argentine firm Industrias Metalurgicas Pescarmona Sociedad Anonima (IMPSA) to rehabilitate a power plant in Laguna. A few months later, former Manila Representative Mark Jimenez, the man who brokered the deal, accused Justice Secretary Hernando Perez of extorting $2 million in exchange for a justice department opinion that favors the deal.

Jimenez told Senator Lacson that the entire amount was actually $14 million: Perez received $2 million, the National Power Corporation "boys" got $1 million, Malacañang was given $4, and $7 million went to Jimenez.

In April 2008, the office of the Ombudsman, headed by Merceditas Gutierrez, filed graft charges against Perez, his wife Rosario, Ernest Escaler, and Ramon Antonio Arceo Jr.

But the graft and robbery charges were junked by the Sandiganbayan in November 2008 as the Ombudsman failed to expedite the complaints, making Perez immune from the charges, indirectly acquitting Perez.

Perez’s pending case with the Sandiganbayan is on his falsification of public documents.

In May 2009, Perez filed his third petition asking the Sandiganbayan to dismiss the charges of unethical practices filed against him for allegedly not declaring $1.7 million in his 2001 Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) saying that Arroyo herself approved his SALN when she assumed office. Perez was then a member of her cabinet.

The godmother’s ties to the Pinedas

President Arroyo agreed to be the godmother of alleged jueteng boss Bong Pineda's son. In an interview with Time, she said that she sought advice from Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin who said, "The sins of the father are not the sins of the son."

Later events revealed the nature of Arroyo’s ties to the Pinedas. In 2005, during the height of the Senate probe on the “Hello Garci” scandal, Army Capt. Marlon Mendoza quoted Virgillio Garcillano and said Pineda gave P300 million to fund Arroyo’s presidential bid in 2004.

Another witness, Michaelangelo Zuce, nephew of Garcillano claimed that Pineda’s wife, Lilia Pineda, handed out envelopes containing P30,000 each in January 2004 during a party hosted by the president in her La Vista home in Quezon City.

Profit from anti-poverty bonds?

Conceptualized by the Caucus of Development (Code-NGO), the PEACe bonds (Poverty Eradication and Alleviation Certificates) were issued by the government supposedly to help raise funds for the anti-poverty activities of its member organizations. But there were allegations that Code-NGO used its political connections to profit P1.4 billion in a series of transactions from the PEACe bonds worth P35 billion pesos.

Code-NGO was chaired by Socorro Camacho-Reyes, sister of then Finance Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho. Camacho-Reyes denied, in a Senate hearing, that her brother helped him.

Silencing the Marines

Rear Adm. Guillermo Wong, then Flag Officer in Command of the Philippine Navy, exposed irregularities in the Philippine Marines' procurement of equipment worth P3.8 million.

This did not sit well with Marine officials. Then Armed Forces chief of staff Angelo Reyes offered Wong another post, chief of the Northern Command, practically demoting him. This forced Wong to resign.

When asked to comment, President Arroyo said Reyes had done "the right thing." Fresh from retirement, Reyes was immediately appointed defense secretary.

A foul deal

In 2007, the Philippine National Construction Corporation (PNCC, formerly Construction Development Corporation of the Philippines or CDCP) and Radstock Securities signed a compromise agreement obliging the PNCC to pay Radstock P6.2 billion in the form of: 19 pieces of real estate properties; 20% of the outstanding capital stock of PNCC; and 50% of PNCC’s share in the gross toll revenue of the Manila North Tollways Corporation for 27 years.

Senators Sergio Osmena III and Franklin Drilon cried foul because it disposed of almost all the assets of PNCC, a company acquired by the government after President Marcos forced government financial institutions to exchange debt owed to them by the company for stocks.

The deal, they said, gave Marubeni/Radstock preferential treatment over other bigger creditors, particularly government. As of December 2002, the PNCC owed the government through the Assets Privatization Trust P41.39 billion, according to the Commission on Audit, and has pending liabilities amounting to P6.9 billion, a bulk of which was from the Philippine government.



2002

Overpriced Macapagal Boulevard

Sulpicio Tagud Jr., then board director of the Public Estates Authority (PEA), exposed the P600-million overprice of the construction of the GSIS-funded 5.1-kilometer President Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard in the Manila Bay reclamation area. The contracts were approved during the Estrada administration and were given to three companies: Shoemart Inc., DM Wenceslao, and Jesusito D. Legaspi Construction (JDLC).

A series of supplemental contracts with JDLC were later approved by the PEA board under the Arroyo administration that increased the original approved cost of their section of the highway. According to Tagud, while the SM group of companies constructed its part of the boulevard at P54,000 per lineal meter, JDLC built its section at P302,000 per lineal meter.

Arroyo asked PEA and the Government Service Insurance System officials to submit a full report on the project to Presidential Legal Counsel Avelino Cruz. After the the report was submitted, Arroyo asked the entire PEA board to go on leave until the Presidential Anti-graft Commission submitted the results of its investigation.

In February 2008, the Sandiganbayan said it will continue the probe on JDLC despite the firm’s motion to dismiss the alleged overpricing of the boulevard.

The garbage contract

The Jancom controversy involved a $360-million (P18 billion) incineration project in which the Jancom Environment Corp. (JEC) would burn 3,000 tons of Metro Manila garbage a day for a tipping fee of $10 per ton. During his term, President Ramos did not approve the contract and President Estrada likewise debunked it because JEC raised the tipping fee from $10 to $59 per ton.

Despite the passage of the Clean Air Act and the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act (both banned the use of incarcerators), the Supreme Court declared the contract valid in April 2002 in a decision penned by Justice Jose Melo.

Still, Arroyo said the deal had many flaws. Arroyo passed the decision to the Manila Metropolitan and Development Authority (MMDA) to decide whether the deal is disadvantageous to the government or not. Although negotiations had started between the MMDA and Jancom, Arroyo called off the deal in April 2002.

Mismanaged funds

Issues on mismanaged funds by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) and the GSIS caught the public eye in 2002. PAGCOR had been experiencing negative cash flows that bloated to P850 million in 2003. A Pagcor manager gave three reasons behind the financial difficulties: 'onerous' contracts, profligate spending, and massive, mindless donations.

GSIS president and general manager Winston Garcia ordered its units to stop the processing of claims and loan applications because of financial difficulty. The Kapisanan ng Manggagawa attributed the financial problems to the following: Garcia's cash advances amounting to P3.4 million, the establishment of district offices worth P4 million each, and the appointment of outside legal counsel for P200,000 a month.

Garcia allegedly used GSIS money to purchase Juan Luna's Parisian Life painting. Likewise, Garcia was said to earn P540,000 a month and appointed some 130 vice-presidents who earn P70,000 a month. There were allegations that GSIS contributed at least P100 million to the campaign funds of Pres. Arroyo. Garcia was retained in his post despite appeals from GSIS employees.

In 2004, before the Senate committee on government corporations and public enterprises, Garcia dismissed the charges and said GSIS is “the country’s top performing government-owned and controlled corporation.” He did not comment on the Juan Luna paintings.

FG as OFW envoy

In December, President Arroyo designated Mike Arroyo as an OFW envoy so he could represent her in the countries she could not visit. However, critics assailed Arroyo's announcement when they learned that his activities as OFW envoy would be funded by a proposed overseas workers legal assistance fund. They feared that the Arroyo couple would use the funds for her 2004 campaign. While the President did not recall her husband's designation, the First Gentleman voluntarily resigned.

Naia’s Terminal 3

In 2002, Transportation Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez obtained overpriced subcontracts for public works projects related to the terminal. Among these is Wintrack Builders Inc., owned by Alvarez, which bagged a site-development project.

Piatco was also accused of paying huge sums of money to Alfonso S. Liongson, PR consultant and said to be an associate of the First Gentleman, for permits or supplementary agreements to the contract. In 2003, Arroyo revoked Piatco's build-operate-transfer contract and the government took over the airport in 2004. After almost a decade, the airport was partially opened in 2008.


2003

Rotten rice!

In February 2003, Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla revealed that 600,000 metric tons of rice imported from India were found to be rotten and moldy. Kishore Hemlani, an Indian trader allegedly close to Arroyo, reportedly bagged the P9.5 billion contract for the rice importation.

Anthony Abad, head of the National Food Authority, had to dispose of some P2.2-million worth of moldy rice stocks and tried to dispose of the remaining sacks in order to recover at least P2.5 billion.

Undeclared wealth in San Francisco

Since she got elected in 1992 as senator, Arroyo had failed to declare in her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth the properties her husband Mike Arroyo bought in San Francisco through his California-based LTA Realty Corporation. According to Newsbreak, Mike acquired, resold, and managed at least five properties with a total value of at least $7.1 million in the Bay City from 1992 to 2000. The First Couple said the properties were bought in trust for Ignacio or Iggy Arroyo, Mike's younger brother.

Mikey Arroyo's imported horses

In August, news broke out that presidential son Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo planned to import 32 thoroughbred horses from Melbourne, Australia worth P384 million (at P12 million per horse). Mikey denied the allegation but admitted that he was in the horse-trade business.

He owns Franchino Farms along with cousin Franchino Pamintuan and friend Ralph Mondragon. (We requested for Mikey’s SALN but it has not been granted as of press time.)

Jose Pidal accounts

In August, opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson accused First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo of money laundering: he allegedly siphoned off at least P321 million in campaign funds and contributions and put these in a secret bank account under the name Jose Pidal. He also supposedly used the names of his aides in three other accounts. According to Lacson, among the donors was then Rep. Mark Jimenez who gave P8 million. Arroyo's younger brother, Iggy, came forward and admitted he is Jose Pidal.

Oakwood mutiny

Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes' alleged involvement in selling arms and ammunitions to guerilla and bandit groups moved 300 young officers and enlisted men of the AFP to rebel against the government in July. Reyes was forced to resign a few weeks later. The rebel soldiers were detained.

The 321 armed soldiers apologized for the failed rebellion. In 2004, 133 of the soldiers were freed. Capt. Nicanor Faeldon, one of the alleged leaders, escaped in December 2005. Four other leaders escaped after Faeldon did. Faeldon was captured in 2007 but escaped again a few months after.

Reyes, since then, has held other Cabinet posts: environment secretary and energy secretary.

Congress vs. Supreme Court

The clash of the two co-equal bodies was all about the billions of pesos in Judiciary Development Fund (JDF) and how it was spent. The Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) and its allies in Congress, peeved that they were being ignored by the Supreme Court, went after Chief Justice Hilario Davide. They almost impeached him.

President Arroyo acted on the controversy only when it reached crisis proportions. She was balancing between competing interests: her political support from Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco’s NPC and Davide’s tenure on the Court.

2004

The super-rich general

In December, Maj. Gen. Carlos F. Garcia's son was apprehended by US Customs officials at the San Francisco airport for carrying $100,000 in undeclared cash. AFP Chief of Staff Narciso Abaya asked Garcia to explain and transferred him to another position.

Later in the year, US Customs and the Federal Bureau of Investigation transmitted to the office of Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo a list of the amounts that General Garcia had brought into the US from 1993 to 2003, which was estimated at P71 million.

In October 2004, Garcia was charged with violating Articles of War 95 (conduct unbecoming of an officer and gentleman) and 96 (acts prejudicial to good order and military discipline) for failing to declare all his assets in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth and for possessing a US green card. In April 2006, the military court sentenced Garcia to a two-year confinement without pay and allowance and dishonorable discharge. Garcia also faced graft charges in the same court.

In February 2009, Garcia’s sons, Juan Pablo and Ian Carl were indicted in the US with one count of conspiracy to commit bulk cash smuggling, failing to file a report of monetary instruments, and making false statements to a US government agency. The sons were placed in US custody until proven innocent. On the same month, Garcia was found guilty of misdeclaring his assets and liabilities in 2000. He was acquitted from two other perjury cases.

On June 2009, the Sandiganbayan acquitted Garcia of the last perjury case, saying there was no proof that the retired general lied in his 1997 SALN. However, the retired general is still facing plunder and forfeiture cases in the Sandiganbayan and is still being detained in Camp Crame.


No bidding for Northrail

The Northrail project started during Ramos's administration but it was only in February 2004 when Finance Secretary Juanita Amatong entered into a credit loan agreement with the Export-Import Bank of China. The agreement granted the Philippine government a $400-million loan facility to finance the construction of the project.

Critics said the interest rate on the loan per annum (3%) is much higher than the rate on other loan packages that the Philippines could have availed itself of. China National Machinery and Equipment Corporation was designated as the prime contractor for the project without public bidding. The Senate probed the issue but the hearings were stalled in 2005 after Malacañang issued EO 464, requiring Cabinet members to seek presidential clearance before they could testify in congressional hearings.


Fertilizer fund scam

The controversy started when President Arroyo was accused of using fertilizer funds for the 2004 election. The fund, worth P728 million, fell under the Ginintuang Masagana Ani Program. Jocelyn Bolante, agriculture undersecretary and regarded as the architect of the fund, left the country and sought asylum in America. He came back to the country in 2008 and faced the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.

Bolante told the Senate that (1) he does not know who nominated or recommended him to be an agriculture undersecretary, (2) it was former Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo who requested the release of the funds, (3) the fertilizer fund was valid and legal and was approved by the DA, and that (4) when he left the department in August 2004, 91% of the fertilizer funds had been liquidated already.

The committee recommended the filing of plunder and other criminal case against him and nine other persons but no case was filed. In January 2009, the panel who investigated the fertilizer fund scam submitted the proposed resolution to Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.

No reports on the investigation have been released from both the Ombudsman and the justice department. In March 2009, Bolante disclosed a plan to run either as governor or congressman in Capiz, Roxas.

Philhealth cards for campaign

Six weeks before the May 2004 elections, two lawyers filed a disqualification case against President Arroyo, saying she was behind the enhanced Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office's Greater Medicare Access or GMA program. Public funds were allegedly spent to enroll families in PhilHealth for one year. The premium cost of P1,200 for each family member was chargeable to PhilHealth and the PCSO. The IDs, bearing Arroyo's picture and name, were coincidentally distributed during the start of the election campaign.

2005

Hello, Garci

More than a year after the election, a recording of a telephone conversation between President Arroyo and election commissioner Virgilio “Garci” Garcillano was released to the public. In this conversation, Arroyo directed him to make sure she wins by one million votes. After weeks of ducking the issue, Arroyo apologized for "a lapse in judgment" in talking with an election commissioner but explained that she merely wanted to protect her votes.

Hyatt 10

Eight cabinet members and two bureau heads, called the Hyatt 10, filed their irrevocable resignations in the aftermath of the “Hello, Garci” scandal and requested Arroyo to resign. The Hyatt 10 is composed of Secretaries Florencio Abad (education), Juan Santos (trade and industry), Emilia Boncodin (budget and management), Cesar Purisima (finance), Dinky Soliman (social welfare and development), Rene Villa (land reform), Alberto Lina (customs), Guillermo Parayno (internal revenues), Teresita Quintos Deles (adviser on the peace process), and Imelda Nicolas of the national anti-poverty commission.

Juetengate

In Senate hearings on jueteng that began in May 2005, jueteng operators and bagmen said the President's husband, Mike, her son Mikey, and her brother-in-law Ignacio or Iggy were among those who received monthly payoffs from gambling lords. The payoffs ranged from P500,000 to P1 million.

One of the key witnesses, businesswoman Sandra Cam, testified that in December 2004, she personally delivered the cash to Mikey and Iggy at the House of Representatives; the money came from retired Chief Supt. Restituto Mosqueda, former police director for Bicol and alleged protector of jueteng operations in Luzon.

Richard Garcia and Demosthenes Abraham Riva also told a Senate hearing that the three Arroyos had been receiving payola from jueteng operations in Bicol. Michaelangelo Zuce, an aide of former commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and a former staff member of presidential adviser on political affairs Joey Rufino, directly linked the President to jueteng by saying that before the 2004 elections, the President distributed money to several election officials in her house in La Vista, Quezon City, in the presence of Bong Pineda's wife, Lilia Pineda.

Garcia and Riva retracted their statements a few months later and said they were merely "coached" by Sen. Panfilo Lacson. Zuce's testimony failed to take off after one witness did not corroborate Zuce's claim. Former Isabela Gov. Faustino Dy Jr. who was also said to have been present at the La Vista meeting, flew to the US and refused to come to Manila to testify.

Aragoncillo, the spy

Leandro Aragoncillo, a Filipino American in the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, was arrested for allegedly taking classified documents from computers in Vice President Dick Cheney's office and the FBI and sending them to opposition leaders in the Philippines. The documents were primarily analyses of the Philippines' political situation by US Embassy officials.

Among others, the documents said that: "Arroyo has always exhibited paranoia and the need to control every aspect of the Philippine economy and politics. As time ticked out for her administration, it was clear the biggest problem was Arroyo herself."

Aragoncillo was charged with acting as an agent of a foreign government or official and faces up to 25 years in prison.

Mega-anomaly in Comelec

According to Solicitor General Alfredo Benipayo, the botched P1.3 billion poll modernization project of Comelec was overpriced by P500 million. Comelec ignored its own bidding rules and changed these to suit one favored bidder: MegaPacific Corp.

The SC deemed the process flawed and declared the contract null and void. The Office of the Ombudsman committee created by Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez initially indicted Commissioner Resurreccion Borra but cleared him a few months later. Abalos and company were ruled to be not liable for the voided contract.

Lozano's complaints

Oliver Lozano filled an impeachment complaint against President Arroyo during the height of the “Hello, Garci” scandal. Congress declared the complaint to be technically deficient. Oliver Lozano filed another impeachment complaint against President Arroyo on 2006. Like the first one, his second complaint was defeated due to insufficiency in substance.

For the third time, Lozano filed his impeachment complaint against the President on 2007. Like the second version, this impeachment rap was dismissed for insufficiency in substance. Critics say Lozano's impeachment complaints were moves to hinder the submission of a solid complaint against the President.

Weeks after former Arroyo ally Jose De Venecia filed his impeachment complaint in 2008, Lozano took his fourth try with a four-page impeachment complaint penned with his daughter, Atty Evangeline Lozano, and another lawyer, Elly Pamatong.

Imelda’s jewelries

Former First Lady Imelda Marcos asked a Manila court to stop a Philippine Commission on Good Government auction of her P15-billion jewelries. Marcos claimed the jewelries belonged solely to her. No restraining order was issued by the court.

The PCGG has two of the three jewelry collections in the vaults of the Bangko Sentral ng Philipinas and planned to auction off majority of the jewelries in May 2009, with strong resistance from Mrs. Marcos.


2006

FG in $20,000 hotel suite!

During Manny Pacquiao's match with Erick Morales in Las Vegas, the First Gentleman allegedly stayed in a $20,000-a-night suite at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mike said that there was nothing corrupt about accepting the free luxury suite offered to him by the hotel. He argued that as the husband of a head of state, he was entitled to such perks.

No German bank account

Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano claimed that a member of the Arroyo family maintained a bank account in Germany amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. First Gentleman Arroyo flew to Germany and secured a certification from the bank to disprove Cayetano's claims. Upon his return, he sought Cayetano's expulsion from Congress but without success.

Toxic JPEPA?

The Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) was signed between Arroyo and former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. The treaty aimed to promote investments and trade between the two countries. Various civil society groups contested the agreement because the government did not consult them. According to these groups, although the agreement secures employment in Japan, the treaty includes an “environmentally unjust bilateral trade.”

In 2008, the Senate finally ratified the agreement by a vote of 16-4 as the agreement was favorable since 95% of exports from the Philippines to Japan will have zero duties.

Meanwhile, numerous representatives from the House questioned the Senate decision as the agreement “will bring a tsunami of unfair trade and toxic wastes.”


2007

Estrada pardon

After spending six years in detention for plunder and graft and corruption charges, former President Estrada was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Sandiganbayan in October 2007. Three days after, President Arroyo granted him pardon citing a policy to release prisoners aged 70.

Fallout from ZTE

The scandal was exposed in August 2007, a few months after Transport Secretary Leandro Mendoza and ZTE Corp Vice President Yu Yong signed a $329.5 million contact for a national broadband network deal in April. President Arroyo and the First Gentlemen were said to have visited China for the contract-signing.

Rep. Carlos Padilla (Nueva Vizcaya) said that Comelec chairperson Benjamin Abalos also joined the President in China to broker the deal. Abalos denied brokering the deal but admitted going to China four times. In September 2007, the son of Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr testified that he was with Abalos in China and that Abalos demanded money from ZTE officials.

The following day, the Supreme Court promulgated a TRO stopping the deal between the Philippines and China and gave ZTE 15 days to comment.

NEDA chair Romulo Neri testified in the Senate hearings and said Abalos tried to bribe him with P200 million but he refused to answer some senators' questions, citing executive privilege. Abalos resigned as Comelec chair in October 2007 as President Arroyo cancelled the deal in a trip to China.

Jun Lozada, former chief executive officer of Philippine Forest Corporation and NEDA consultant, testified in February 2008 that Abalos and the First Gentlemen were to receive kickbacks once the deal was signed. Speaker Jose de Venecia was unseated and got dragged into the deal when his son said he was also in China.

On July 2008, the SC dismissed three petitions that question the constitutionality of the deal and declared it moot and academic.

Impeachment: Pulido's version

Lawyer Roel Pulido filed an impeachment complaint against President Arroyo. Endorsed by an administration ally, Laguna Rep. Edgar San Luis, it was seen as a move to foil another complaint against the President.

Congress thrashed the complaint.

Money from Malacañang

Pampanga Gov. Eddie Panlilio revealed that he was given a paper bag containing P500,000 in a Malacañang meeting in October 2007. The money was allegedly for community projects. The bags were handed out by a female Malacañang staff. Panlilio said he accepted the money because because no conditions were attached; he did not consider it a bribe. Various versions of the source of the money came out as other local officials present in the meeting admitted receiving either P500,000 or P200,000.

Other officials who confirmed receiving money were Governors Joselito Mendoza, Leo Campos, and Representatives Rachel Arenas, Antonio Cuenco, Bienvenido Abante, Mauricio Domogan, Tomas Dumpit Jr, and some others who refused to be named. The named 9 officials were charged by the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly receiving bribes. Due to numerous versions on the source of the money, Sen. Miguel Zubiri said during the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing that the money has no direct link to the Palace.

Glorietta 2 and Batasan bombings

After the string of controversies hounding the Arroyo administration, bombing incidents happened in Glorietta 2 and the House of Representatives. The police, in a speedy investigation, found that the bombing of Batasan was initially intended for Basilan Rep. Wahab Akbar.

The Glorietta 2 bombing, on the other hand, resulted from gas leakage. Rumors spread that the bombings were perpetrated by the government to divert the public’s attention away from the Arroyo scandals.

The Batasan bombing happened the day before Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio was set to testify on the bribery of local officials in the Senate and a day before the House justice committee was to hear the impeachment case.

The Glorietta 2 bombing happened during the height of the bribery case which took place in Malacañang.

Manila Pen siege

Antonio Trillanes IV, together with Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim and 25 other Magdalo officers walked out of their trial and marched on the streets of Makati City. Former Vice-President Teofisto Guingona and some soldiers from the AFP joined the march that ended in Peninsula Manila Hotel. After several hours, the group surrendered to the government forces after a military assault. They were arrested and several journalists were detained.

Missing: Jonas Burgos

Of the numerous human rights violations, political killings, and abductions during Arroyo's administration, the case of activist Jonas Burgos has become the most prominent. Burgos was missing since late April and eyewitnesses said he was dragged from a mall in Commonwealth to a Toyota Revo by five men. The license plate of the Revo was traced to the 56th Infantry Battalion camp in Bulacan.


2008

Teehankee pardon

In 1991, Claudio Teehankee Jr was sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of killing Maureen Hultman, John Roland Chapman, and wounding Jussi Leino. Last November 2008, President Arroyo granted Teehankee pardon. It was reported that the Hultmans "approved" the pardon and received a settlement of P6 million. The Hultmans were enraged that the pardon was "kept secret" and denied receiving the money.

Euro generals

In an Interpol conference in Moscow, police comptroller director Eliseo De la Paz and his group were detained because of carrying undeclared cash worth 105,000 euros (P6.9 million). At the time of the conference, De la Paz had already retired from service.

When the group returned, the Senate called for hearings on the issue. De la Paz said the money was "cash advance" for "emergency cases." His statement was questioned as PNP Chief Jesus Versoza said the money was for purchasing intelligence equipment.

The Senate recommended that the justice department and the Ombudsman conduct a preliminary investigation on the PNP delegates to the Interpol assembly as the group violated the travel ban under Administrative Order No. 103, the law on allowable travel expenses, and the rule on retired officials or those about to retire. The report also proposed a preliminary investigation on interior and local government chief Reynato Puno and Versoza for allowing the group to travel and for ignoring the travel ban.

As of March 2009, De la Paz settled the remaining 65,000 euros, fully paying for the cash advance and avoiding a civil law suit.

C-5 insertion

Senators Panfilo Lacson and Jamby Madrigal spilled the beans on Senate president Manny Villar when they exposed his double insertion of a P200 million C-5 project in the 2008 budget. After a few months, Villar resigned as Senate president when he learned about the planned "ouster" led by Lacson. Enrile became Senate president.

In May 2009, although Villar was out of the country, the Senate ethics committee deliberated on the alleged C-5 insertion and declared the ethics complaint filed by Madrigal as sufficient in substance.

Meralco and the tainted court

What started out as a tug-of-war between the Lopezes and GSIS over control of Meralco ended up tainting the reputation of the Court of Appeals. The scandal started when Justice Jose Sabio Jr told the media that he was offered a P10 million bribe by an alleged Meralco emissary, businessman Francis Borja.

The Supreme Court conducted a public investigation on the CA justices. Lapses in the justices' decisions and CA procedures were unearthed. The verdict: Justice Vicente Roxas was dismissed, Sabio and Justice Bienvenido Reyes were suspended, and Justice Myrna Vidal was reprimanded.

Impeachment: Joey’s complaint

Joey de Venecia, son of former House Speaker Jose De Venecia, filed an impeachment complaint against President Arroyo, particularly because of the overpriced NBN-ZTE broadband deal. The complaint was found sufficient in form but was dismissed after House representatives voted 42-8, ruling the complaint as insufficient in substance.

Resurrecting nuke power plant

Tarlac Rep. Mark Cojuangco and Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo filed HB 4631 or the Bataan nuclear power plant commissioning act, a bill aimed at rehabilitating the mothballed power plant for $1.4 billion. Various groups were strongly against the re-opening of the plant, stating that more viable and cheaper options are available like renewable energy. A feasibility study was requested from Cojuangco to prove that BNPP’s structures are still in good condition. A consolidated HB 6300 was submitted to the House and will be deliberated after the legislative break in July.

The failed ancestral domain agreement

In June 2001, President Arroyo signed the GRP-MILF Tripoli agreement in Libya, paving the way for peace talks between the government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. By May 2003, due to numerous bombings in Mindanao, Arroyo canceled the peace talks. Talks resumed two months later in Kuala Lumpur.

In January 2004, peace monitors from Malaysia, Brunei, and Libya went to Mindanao to monitor the five-year truce between the two parties. The discussion on ancestral domain progressed and was divided into four strands: concept, territory, resources, and governance.

By November 2007, government panel chair Rodolfo Garcia and MILF peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal said that the agreement can finally be concluded. But by December of the same year, the ancestral domain negotiations reached a deadlock due to constitutional issues.

The text of the Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) caused a big stir when it leaked to the press. On August 2008, the Supreme Court issued a Temporary Restraining Order on the peace agreement and suggested renegotiating the homeland deal.

In September 2008, the government dissolved the panel conducting the peace negotiations with the MILF, formed a new one, and announced that negotiations will depend on whether the MILF will turn over two rogue field commanders and other members who attacked North Cotabato, Lanao del Norte, and other provinces in Mindanao. The peace talks were set to resume in 2009.


2009

Red Cross kidnapping

On January, gunmen on motorcycles intercepted an International Committee of the Red Cross vehicle and kidnapped three workers: Italian Eugenio Vagni, Swiss Andreas Notter, and Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba. The group behind it, identified as the Abu Sayyaf, asked for ransom. The Philippine Red Cross, under Sen. Richard Gordon, refused to pay the ransom. The group threatened to behead the workers.

Three months after the kidnapping, after numerous negotiations, Lacaba was released. A few days after, Notter was released as well. Vagni, after six months of being held captive, was eventually released July 12.

Con Ass

In 2005, Arroyo initiated a move to change the Constitution and transform the present presidential-bicameral republic into a parliamentary-unicameral form of government but failed.

By late 2006, the House shelved a plan to revise the Constitution through a constituent assembly. In June 2009, two days before the House adjourned, they passed HR Bill 1109. The bill calls for a Constituent Assembly to amend the 1986 Constitution.

Dacer-Corbito double murder case

After spending years in America, Cesar Mancao returned and was willing to speak out on the murder of publicist Bubby Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in 2000. Mancao became a state witness in July 2009.

Aside from Mancao, 21 others were accused of the same charges. According to Mancao, he is no longer afraid of anyone, particularly of Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who consequently denied having a hand in the crime.

Dacer was asked by former President Estrada to boost his image during the height of the BW scam and the latter’s impeachment trial. The publicist was said to have knowledge of BW Resources Corp, a gaming firm in which Estrada owned shares. The scam started when it was found out that BW won an exclusive contract to operate on-line bingo and introduce Quick Pick-2 in 1999, a game similar to jueteng. On that same year, PAGCOR granted BW a nationwide online bingo franchise. Further investigation revealed that Dante Tan, Estrada’s alleged financier during the latter’s presidential bid, had been heavily buying shares in BW.

In late 2000, the charred bodies of Dacer and his driver were found in a creek in Cavite and eyewitnesses said they were abducted and killed by policemen. Some of the witnesses pointed to Estrada as the mastermind of the killing through Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force chief Lacson.

CARP extension

A few days before the House’s legislative break, the body passed House Bill 4077 to extend the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law for another five years. The House appropriated P100 billion for land acquisition and distribution, support services, and other funding requirements. The Senate has also approved its own version of the bill.

In 2007, Arroyo certified an urgent bill to extend the law. The program has yet to distribute a million hectares to another two million beneficiaries.

RH bill

In June, the controversial House Bill 5043 or reproductive health bill was trashed in the House of Representatives, as it failed to gather enough votes from the lawmakers. The bill was penned by Cong. Edcel Lagman and it advocates, among others, the use of government funds to provide free contraceptives to the poor. The bill reached the plenary on 2008 and has since been under fire from various groups, particularly those with the Catholic Church.

Right of reply bill

The controversial Right of Reply bill (RORB) failed to gather enough signatures and was not passed in the House. Since it was filed last year, numerous groups, especially from media organizations, have contested the passing of the bill.

In February, seven senators reiterated their support for the bill. Arroyo, on the other hand, assured journalists while the bill was being deliberated in the House that she will not hesitate to trash it should it contain provisions that will curtail press freedom.

Baselines bill

In March, Arroyo signed Republic Act 9522 or the Philippine Archipelagic Baselines law, a controversial law that defines the country’s baselines and claims in the South China Sea. The bill includes the Kalayaan Group of Islands and Scarborough Shoal as parts of “regime of islands.” The other countries who have been claiming the islands are China, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei.

Misuse of Balikatan funds

Navy Lt. Nancy Gadian revealed an alleged malversation of funds in the 2007 Balikatan joint military exercises with the United States. According to Gadian, Gen. Eugenio Cedo, former Mindanao Command head, pocketed P2.3 million of the money and the rest were pocketed by other higher Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) officials. The Balikatan exercises were given a P4.6 million fund.

Arroyo ordered the defense department to investigate Gadian’s allegations. Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr, AFP public information officer chief, said the alleged malversed funds were properly accounted for in the Commission on Audit reports. He also challenged Gadian to come out and file a proper complaint.

GMA in Congress?

Due to rumors that Arroyo is planning to run for Congress, election lawyers clarified that there are no provisions that prohibit Arroyo from resigning as president if she runs for a lower post. They cite Sec. 67 of the Omnibus Election Code which was repealed in the Fair Elections Act passed in 2001, Arroyo’s first year as president after Edsa 2.

The Code states that “any elective official, whether national or local, running for any office other than the one which he is holding in a permanent capacity, except for President and Vice-President, shall be considered ipso facto resigned from his office upon the filing of his certificate of candidacy.”

Helicopter crash

In April 2009, a helicopter carrying eight passengers, two of whom were Cabinet undersecretaries and a senior military aide, crashed in the Ifugao region. The Philippine Air Force (PAF) blamed bad weather for the accident.

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, chair of the senate committee on national defense and security, questioned why the helicopter was allowed to fly from Loakan Airport in Baguio in the afternoon when visibility was low and why there was no back-up helicopter provided at the time. There were allegations that the helicopter was delayed for three hours because it was used to ferry Congressman Mikey Arroyo, the president’s eldest son, from Manila to Baguio.

According to press Secretary Cerge Remonde, the helicopter indeed carried Mikey and the others from Manila and arrived in Baguio at past two in the afternoon, ahead of the other helicopter which carried Arroyo and her party. The same helicopter Mikey used was the same helicopter used by the eight passengers who were supposed to conduct an ocular inspection of the Halsema Highway; Arroyo was scheduled to visit this highway the next day.

Sources: Various news reports

Bishops-led march on to oust Arroyo

Daily Tribune 11/30/2008
By Riza Recio and Pat C. Santos

Tagged as “pied pipers” by Malacañang, Catholic bishops who called for an uprising to remove President Arroyo from power said they are keen to continue their campaign, adding they will not be deterred by Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez’s threat of sedition charges when they lead today a people’s protest in Caloocan City.
The mass action today, to be led by Novaliches Bishop Antonio Tobias, Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez, the Kilusang Makabansang Ekonomiya (KME) and participated in by labor and cause-oriented groups, will primarily call for the public to block efforts of Mrs. Arroyo’s allies in the House of Representatives to amend the Constitution.
The revived Charter change (Cha-cha) attempt is being billed by the Palace and Mrs. Arroyo’s House allies as a measure to amend economic provisions in the Constitution but it is widely seen as an effort to further extend the term of Mrs. Arroyo which will end in 2010.
The bishops said they are unfazed by Gonzalez’s threats to file sedition charges against them.
Tobias and Iñiguez yesterday said they are open to “extra-legal” means to oust Mrs.Arroyo.
“We are already used to the threat of the old secretary of injustice. We will just wait what he will do,” said Tobias.
The 67-year-old bishop also warned Malacañang allies in Congress over their aggressiveness to push Charter Change, saying that it could fuel fury among the public.
In Thursday’s press conference, he said the moves for constitutional amendments despite the lack of public support just show the “real color of the administration.”
Invoking a Biblical passage that supposedly orders people “to fear and honor duly constituted authorities” Malacañang said the bishops are making “reckless and irresponsible” acts.
Deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez Jr. called Iñiguez and Tobias “pied pipers” for what he called as their acts on influencing the public to sympathize with them in searching for extra-legal means to oust Mrs. Arroyo.
Golez said the two bishops violated Biblical teachings in particular the Book of Romans Chapter 13 which supposedly told the faithful “to fear and honor the duly-constituted authority”.
“It is foremost that all bishops who are encouraging our people to resort to extra-constitutional means can be likened to the pied piper blowing their flute to innocent children and leading them to drown in the river” said Golez.
The Pied Piper is a mythical character who supposedly led hundreds of children to drown to retaliate against townsfolk who withheld payments for his previous service of ending a rat infestation.
Tobias said that the whole Catholic Church is heading for a consensus in calling for the ouster of Mrs. Arroyo.
“Masyado ng garapal kaya papunta na diyan. Papunta na diyan na magkakasama-sama kami (Their brazenness have become too much. We are all heading in one direction),” Tobias said.
Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales told an assembly at St. Paul’s College in Manila that “self-serving public servants exploit the ignorant poor.”
“The worst possible scenario is where people approach the poor not to help but to take advantage of them,” Rosales added.
There are more bishops now (who are joining the call for Mrs. Arroyo to step down). I’m very sure the initial five (who called for a new government) and the others like us are growing,” Tobias furthered.
Such was the case, he added, during the Martial Law years, when the religious leaders in the Philippines all expressed opposition to the continued stay of then-president Ferdinand Marcos.
Last month, Lagdameo along with Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, Masbate Bishop Joel Baylon, Balanga Bishop Socrates Villegas and Legazpi Bishop emeritus Jose Sorra, called on the public to start preparing for a new government to remove the present one that is riddled with massive corruption.
Some bishops, who are known to be friendly with Malacañang, however, tried to downplay the statement of the five bishops saying this does not represent the CBCP as a body.
Golez said the Palace had no plans on what measures to implement when the bishops lead today’s mass action.
It would depend on the action that the Department of Justice would be implementing related to this recent development, Golez said.
Gonzalez had said the DoJ would be monitoring any clear violation of the Revised Penal Code pertaining to rebellion and inciting to sedition of the rallyists.
Golez added with the country reeling from the current global crisis, the people would be unlikely to support any destabilization effort.
Malacañang, however, ordered police forces to exercise maximum tolerance on today’s mass actions.
In preparation for the mass protest, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the National Capital Region Police Office will be on full alert tomorrow, according to the Palace.
AFP spokesperson Leopoldo Batawil said the armed forces has been coordinating with the AFP National Capital Region Command and the Region IV-A and Region III in order to ensure peace and order during today’s protest action.
The AFP has called on the protesters to stage rallies within the designated freedom parks and to ensure banning of bringing guns among rallyists.
The rallyists are also expected to protest the rushed junking of the impeachment case against Mrs. Arroyo, the fourth in so many years.
The impeachment bid was junked by the House committee on justice after two days of deliberations ruling that it was insufficient in substance. The impeachment case will be debated in the plenary tomorrow.
Gabriela Women’s Party Representative Liza Maza Saturday scored Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales for threatening two Catholic Bishops on “inciting to rebellion” cases for their critical stand against the Arroyo administration.
“It is so unbecoming of Gonzales to utter such statements. He should learn to respect the viewpoints of people who chose not to be gagged and fooled by the Arroyo administration,” said Maza.
“The Bishops’ call is valid and in no way impedes the constitutional right of anyone; rather it is a solid exercise of our basic right for expression and redress and to demand for accountability from our public officials, more so from the highest position in the country.”
“It appears that the allies of the Arroyo administration are guilty of hiding the truth, They might have killed the impeachment complaint but they will never succeed in thwarting our civil liberties,” she added.
The Gabriela solon further encouraged the people to be more vigilant against all the schemes of the Arroyo administration now that its “Charter Change express” had been exposed.
“It is high time for us Filipinos to unite against the evils in Malacañang. We can never allow the culture of greed, violence, and corruption to thrive further and consequently poison the minds of our children.” Charlie V. Manalo

Transparency International (TI) Survey: Corruption in RP at its worst

CPI rating of 2.3 lowest since start of transparency poll
Corruption in RP at its worst, TI survey shows

09/24/2008
The Arroyo administration reached another milestone yesterday after the Philippines' ranking in the yearly Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of watchdog Transparency International (TI) fell to 2.3 points out of a possible 10, the lowest ever for the country and one of the worst in the world since the survey was started in 1996.
The Philippines landed 141st out of 180 countries ranked in this year's survey and it was bracketed with Yemen, Cameroon and Iran.
In the Asian region, the country's corruption rating was 25th of 32 countries, ahead only of Timor-Leste, Bangladesh, Laos, Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, Afghanistan and Myanmar.
Among major Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), the country got the lowest score with even Indonesia ranking ahead with 2.6 points and Vietnam, 2.7 points rating.
Transparency International Philippines chairman Dolores Espanol said the progressive slide in the country's CPI ranking reflects the perception on the current government and failure of its programs to fight corruption.
Most of the programs undertaken against corruption under the current dispensation are superficial.
If the government is serious in addressing corruption, it should have been pursuing the many reports coming out concerning irregularities in government and pursue this until perpetrators are penalized, Espanol told the Tribune yesterday.
The corruption situation in the country is worsening and the government should delve into the root of each case after filing it in court. These cases should then be followed through until terminated, she said.

Quedancor Swine Program another fertilizer scam

(First of three parts)

ILOILO CITY, Philippines— Aura Drew Escanlar was all set to take the nursing board examinations that December of 2004 when she decided instead to put up a piggery.

What changed her mind was an offer from the Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corp. (Quedancor). Called “the poor man’s financing institution," the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) credit guarantee arm was giving out loans in the form of piglets and feeds, with a buy-back scheme that assured borrowers some income.

Escanlar then used her parents’ savings to build pigpens and buy piglets, and signed up for the Quedancor Swine Program (QSP). Less than a year later, Escanlar lost almost everything. The income from the buy-back scheme was always delayed, and the feeds came late or were not delivered at all. After 50 of her piglets died, Escanlar stormed the Quedancor regional office here. “You have turned my farm into a graveyard," she told Quedancor employees.

Escanlar was among the angry borrowers who called up or descended on the Quedancor regional office, their names listed in logbook entries from October to December 2005, many of them financially ruined by the QSP. The rest of this story GMA NEWS

SAF commandos confirm 2004 poll fraud cover-up

SAF commandos confirm 2004 poll fraud cover-up

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS

VERA Files

(First of two parts)

When Gloria Arroyo delivers her eighth State of the Nation Address at the Batasang Pambansa session hall today, she will be standing close to where, three years ago, police commandos say they replaced genuine election returns (ERs) with fake ones in ballot boxes that were being readied for a recount of the 2004 presidential election.

The ER switching at the Batasan had been talked about and reported on since 2005, when Arroyo apologized for talking to an election official while the votes were being counted, in what has since been known as the "Hello, Garci" scandal.

Recently, some of those who took part in that clandestine operation have sought legal refuge, executing affidavits and taped testimonies of their involvement. Others told friends in confidence, while a few boasted about it in drinking sessions.

They said they switched the ERs of several provinces on three occasions to reconcile these with the figures in the certificates of canvass (COCs) and statements of votes (SOVs) that were tampered with in the 2004 elections.

The stories told by some of the participants and their confidants in the Batasan operation constitute what could be grounds for another impeachment case against Arroyo.

They revive allegations that not only did the President cheat in the 2004 elections, but also tried to cover her tracks by switching the ERs that would have been scrutinized in 2005. At that time, the presidential electoral protest filed by Arroyo’s opponent, Fernando Poe Jr., was still pending. Poe died of a heart attack in December 2004, but his widow, Susan Roces, pursued the protest. (She was turned down on the ground that the party in interest had died.)

Among those who took part in the Batasan operation were members of the Special Action Force (SAF), an elite unit of the Philippine National Police.

Some of them said they got their orders from Chief Supt. Marcelino Franco, then commanding officer of the SAF. Both Franco and the then chief of the SAF Intelligence and Investigation Division, Supt. Rafael Santiago, were present at a briefing on the operation, SAF sources said.

The SAF sources refused to be named for fear of their safety and that of their families. MALAYA The rest of this story.
Part 2
Related Link
Arsenio Rasalan

Ex-Cabinet officials: Arroyo worse than Marcos in abuse of appointing power

What do we expect from usurper Gloria Arroyo?

Extra judicial and political killings still major problem in Philippines

Malacanang Palace and the military were in denial mode on extra-judicial and political killings linked to counter –insurgency campaign against the left. The Arroyo has done concrete to stop killings of suspected enemies of the state. Poverty and social injustice are the root causes of insurgency. Massive corruption in the bureaucracy may have direct effect on rising poverty nationwide. As usual, Gloria Arroyo is in denial mode on corruption under her watch.

Sen. Lacson links Gloria Arroyo to P2.5B Swine Scam

Malacanang Sen. Edgardo Angara won’t investigate her boss Gloria Arroyo in the alleged swine scam. Crocks protect each other.

Ping links Gloria to P2.5B swine scam
BY JP LOPEZ

SEN. Panfilo Lacson will ask the Senate to investigate Quedancor's P2.5 billion Swine Program fund in 2004, saying there is an indication that President Arroyo had a direct hand in the anomaly surrounding it.
"Nang inilipat ni GMA ang Quedancor sa OP (Office of the President) mula sa DA (Department of Agriculture) 'tsaka nangyari ang 'swine-dling'. May indikasyon na may direct hand ang Pangulo sa anomalya ala fertilizer scam," he said.
Quedancor (Quedan and Rural Credit Corp.) was placed under the OP during the elections in 2004.
Lacson said just like the P728-million fertilizer fund scam, the billions of pesos supposedly for the purchase of livestock could have been used to fund the 2004 campaign of Team Unity candidates.
Harry Roque of the UP College of Laws said that the Commission on Audit discovered that at least P1.4 billion of the P2.5-billion fund that Quedancor released for the swine industry remains unliquidated.
He said the farmers who supposedly received the hogs were paid P200 to P300 to sign papers that indicated they received the livestock. Malaya

Philippine Supreme Court Legitimized Kleptocracy

Deviantart

Welcome to kleptocrat nation! The Philippine Supreme Court has legitimized Gloria Arroyo’s kleptocracy-the rule by looters and thieves. The Arroyo government is ruled by Mafia criminals and cronies. It’s lutong makaw! The majority of the magistrates are blind and bias. The Arroyo Supreme Court is a part of wholesale conspiracy of China’s ZTE scam and its clone’s cover-up. In fact, the Philippine Supreme Court legitimized the Arroyo presidency after the 2001 EDSA Dos coup. What national security? What diplomatic matters? The alleged Spratlys sell-out and wholesale conspiracy to commit fraud, bribery, and treachery are covered under Gloria’s executive privilege. Shame on them!

The rule of law is dead under corrupt Arroyo regime. Gloria Arroyo has the rubber stamp do-nothing House of the Representatives, the Supreme Court to justify her misdeeds, the Ombudsman and Department of Injustice to protect her Mafia cronies from prosecution, the military-police to suppress people’s civil liberties and the bishops for their prayers and all-out support. Anak ng jueteng! But no thanks to bribery! Tuloy ang ligaya!

SC Chief Justice Puno dissents
The limits of executive privilege
GMA’s justices uphold Neri’s silence, castrate Senate

CJ Puno: Palace claim of RP-China ties at risk not credible
By Benjamin B. Pulta
Daily Tribune 03/26/2008
The Senate, empowered by the Constitution with the mandate to investigate anomalies in government, and in the Executive branch in aid of legislation, has been effectively castrated by the high court with its ruling issued yesterday involving the invocation of executive privilege.
All of President Arroyo’s men and women in the Supreme Court (SC) appeared to have delivered to her what she wanted: The clipping of the Senate’s powers to investigate, in aid of legislation; to question witnesses and resource persons and demand answers from them; and to cite them in contempt, while upholding the Malacanang officials’ right to invoke executive privilege, and thus evade public accountability even in criminal matters.

The SC yesterday ruled to grant a petition filed by former National Economic Development Authority (Neda) secretary-general now chairman of the Commission on Higher Education Romulo Neri to stop the Senate from compelling him to testify in its investigation into the aborted $329-million national
broadband network project of the government with China’s ZTE Corp.
Voting nine-to-six,the majority of the high court in the decision written by Associate Justice Teresita De Castro agreed with Neri’s claim that the Senate cannot cite any person appearing before legislative inquiries before it in contempt until the upper house passes its rules.
As of 4:00 p.m. yesterday, no official copy of the main ruling was available since it was still being revised, SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said, adding that it runs to some 35 pages.

The main decisions said ,in this present search for truth, we should turn to the fundamental constitutional principles.
The SC said while the three department s of government are considered separate,co-equal,coordinate and supreme within their respective spheres they are imbued with a system of checks and balances to prevent unwarranted exercise of power.
Even the courts are repeatedly advised to exercise the power of contempt judiciously and sparingly with utmost self-restraint with the end in view of utilizing the same for correction and preservation of the dignity of the court, not for retaliation or vindication.

The majority added that the Senate committees should have exercised the same restraint adding that after all petitioner (Neri) is not even an ordinary witness. He holds a high position in a co-equal branch of government.
The SC also pointed out that only a minority of the members of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee were present during the deliberation.
Clearly,the needed vote is a majority of all the members of the (Senate blue ribbon) Committee. Apparently, members who did not actually participate in the deliberation were made to sign the contempt order. Thus , there is a cloud of doubt as to the validity of the contempt order, the SC said.
The tribunal also cited that in letters made by Neri to the Senate, the former include(d) an expression of his willingness to testify again, provided he be furnished in advance copies of the questions.

The dissenting opinion of Chief Justice Reynato Puno was 120 pages long.
Despite the majority vote in favor of the administration in the Neri petition, magistrates of the high court who dissented said a virtual mouthful for the case.
In his separate opinion, the Chief Justice did not give credence to the claim of Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita that the country’s relationship with China may be put at risk if Neri is forced to answer the three questions which stem from a Neri allegation of bribery.
Puno said Ermita has no explanation on how diplomatic secrets will be exposed at the expense of national interest if petitioner answered the three disputed questions propounded by the respondent Senate committees.
Neri, Puno pointed out, also failed to explain during the oral argument on the case how diplomatic secrets will be compromised if the three questions are answered by him.

But even assuming arguendo that petitioner Neri can properly invoke the privilege covering national security and military affairs, still, the records will show that he failed to provide the Court knowledge of the circumstances with which the Court can determine whether there is reasonable danger that his answers to the three disputed questions would indeed divulge secrets that would compromise our national security, Puno noted.
The questions, Puno added, should be answered by Neri as these are pertinent to the subject matter of the legislative investigation being undertaken by the respondent Senate committees.

He noted that the questions to Neri have direct relation not only to the subject of the inquiry, but also to the bills pending before the Senate such as Senate Bill No. 1793 which intends to amend Republic Act No. 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act, Senate Bill No. 1794 or An Act Imposing Safeguards in Contracting Loans Classified as Official Development Assistance and Senate Bill No. 1317 or An Act Mandating Concurrence to International Agreements and Executive Agreements.
Puno further stressed that the strength of the executive privilege is weakened by the fact that the subject of the communication involves a contract with a foreign loan, which is not exclusively vested in the President, but is shared with the Monetary Board (Central Bank).

We also consider the chilling effect which may result from the disclosure of the information sought from petitioner Neri but the chilling effect is diminished by the nature of the information sought, which is narrow, limited as it is to the three assailed questions. We take judicial notice also of the fact that in a Senate inquiry, there are safeguards against an indiscriminate conduct of investigation, Puno added.

With all these considerations factored into the equation, we have to strike the balance in favor of the respondent Senate committees and compel petitioner Neri to answer the three disputed questions, he further said.

Spokesman Marquez, quoting the high court’s majority ruling said that since there are no published rules of the Senate’s rules for contempt no person can be penalized with contempt by the Senate until the guidelines are already published.
Marquez said the ban not only covers Neri but in effect also covers other witnesses appearing before the legislature.
It does not limit the power of the Senate but only defines executive privilege he added.

Dissenting from the majority opinion were Puno and Associate Justices Antonio Carpio, Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Ma. Alicia Austria-Martinez, Conchita Carpio-Morales and Adolfo Azcuna.
Carpio however joined the majority in ruling that the arrest warrant issued by the Senate against Neri was handed down in grave abuse of discretion.
The senators ordered Neri’s arrest following his failure to heed their subpoenas for him to appear the Senate inquiry.
The SC ruled that three crucial questions being asked of Neri during the senate proceedings are covered by the rule of executive privilege.
The majority decision said that these questions fall under executive privilege and that the conversations between Neri and the President must remain secret, despite the fact that an earlier SC ruling on EO 464 made it clear that executive privilege does not cover criminal activities.
It was claimed by the majority that for Neri to divulge his conversations with Mrs. Arroyo would put the diplomatic relations between China and the Philippines at serious risk.
Marquez clarified that the SC ruling does not prevent Neri from opting to change his mind and voluntarily testifying before the senate in executive session.
Aside from De Castro those who ruled to uphold the Palace position were Associate Leonardo Quisumbing, Renato Corona, Dante Tinga, Minita Chico-Nazario, Presbitero Velasco, Antonio Nachura, Ruben Reyes and Arturo Brion. All of whom are publicly perceived to toe the Malacanang line.
Brion who replaced Associate Justice Angelina Gutierrez was not yet with the court when the high court held oral arguments on the case last March 4. Marquez clarified that Brion wrote a separate opinion explaining his vote to concur with the majority.
Malacanang was pleased by the decision, saying that the ruling confirmed all along its belief that the Senate had been disrespectful toward the Executive department when it comes to its inquiries in aid of legislation.
What’s good about this ruling is that it emphasized what we have been saying all along that all these time we have been talking about respecting the independence of one another (executive and legislative branches) and (for the Senate) to accord respect to resource persons. In all of this, we have been proven correct. The only reason this Executive Order 464 was ever issued was due to the disrespect (of the Senate) to the Constitution, said Press Secretary and presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye.
For his part, Deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez said they are now looking forward to the Senate and the executive to work out a mutually acceptable rules on appearances in the senate inquiries of witnesses, in aid of legislation.
With Sherwin C. Olaes and PNA

PERC Survey: RP among most corrupt Asian economies

Gloria Arroyo’s poor governance, failure of justice system and never ending corruption by her political allies and cronies make the Philippines the number one corrupt country in Asia. Philippine bogus president Gloria Arroyo is the problem and should be ousted. The Filipinos deserve a better leader.

Sigaw ng Bayan Gloria Alisin Na!

Sigaw ng Bayan Gloria Alisin Na! Traidor!
Welcome to exotic Philippine Islands, the province of China. Gloria Arroyo has sold Philippines’ national sovereignty to People’s Republic of China in exchange of ‘sweet deals’ and kickbacks. China’s foreign loans have directly benefited GMA’s greed and her cronies. China, Philippines signed 14 agreements to explore our mines, farmlands, joint offshore exploration operations and telecommunication projects. China Eximbank won’t give foreign loans to the Philippines without string attached to debt. Ousted house speaker Rep. Jose De Venecia should be also held responsible for the Spratly sell-out. He brokered the anomalous North Rail Project. Gloria and JDV are partners in crime.
Related Links

ZTE officials advanced US$41M to GMA, cronies, says new witness
NBN-ZTE broadband scam
Lawyers' groups join calls for Arroyo resignation
Sen. Trillanes wants Spratly deal probed in Senate
Mike Defensor brokered kickback of First Couple

Resign Gloria Macapagal Arroyo!

Banner from Philippine Experience blogsite

Philippine bogus President Gloria Arroyo has no moral authority to lead our divided nation. Political scandal, scams and anomalous transactions under her inept corrupt regime is no longer acceptable. She is dragging the Senate investigation on Hello Garci political scam and China's ZTE Corp. broadband scam. The Arroyo government is run by thieves and Mafia-like cronies.

IBON Survey: Most Filipinos Want Arroyo To Step Down Due To Corruption Charges

Recent corruption scandals besetting the Arroyo administration have led most Filipinos to call for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to step down, according to the results of the latest IBON survey.
Asked if they were aware of calls made recently by members of the Church and other sectoral groups for Pres. Arroyo to resign from office and face corruption charges levelled against her, 75% of the total 1,503 survey respondents said yes.
Of these, 77.4% said they agreed with such call to step down.
Various interfaith and sectoral groups such as Solidarity Philippines, Concerned Citizens Group, United Church of Christ in the Philippines, among others, have called for a rejection of what they called as Arroyo’s morally bankrupt government.
The IBON nationwide survey was conducted from January 7 to 14, 2008, with 1,503 respondents. It has a margin of error of plus or minus three percent.

Oust Gloria Macapagal Arroyo!

Gloria Arroyo has no moral authority to lead our divided nation. Political scandal, scams and anomalous transactions under her bogus regime is no longer acceptable.
What else is new? Impeach me! Coup Me! And now Assassinate Me! I think the alleged Al Qaeda plot to assassinate Gloria Arroyo is just a squid tactics to divert public attention on ZTE scam. Lozada’s expose’ has been in the headlines, talk shows and blogosphere for two weeks. Gloria Arroyo and her cohorts need a breathing space. Why only now? The timing is very suspicious.

Nov.29 Movement: dissent in action
ZTE scam

ZTE scam Senate witness abducted at airport

The Gloria Arroyo government is controlled by Mafia boss Jose Pidal and protected by rogue AFP chief and some scalawag PNP elements. Where is ZTE scam Senate witness Rodolfo Lozada? Is he still alive?
Arroyo crony Ruben Reyes received $46 M dole out based on Dante Madriaga’s narration of sequence of events that led to $329 M NBN-ZTE broadband scam. There’s no surprise why $200 M kickbacks was added to the original $129 M price.


ZTE witness‘abducted’ at airport
NAIA security chief whisks Lozada
away from Senate arresting team
________________________________________
BY DENNIS GADIL
A TEAM believed led by the security chief of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport "snatched" NBN-ZTE prime witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada from Senate arresting teams as he arrived yesterday.
Reports said Lozada, who flew in from Hong Kong at around 4:40 p.m., was apparently whisked off by retired general Angel Atutubo, NAIA assistant general manager for security, and was directly taken down to the tarmac to a waiting van.
Atutubo reportedly was a former aide of President Arroyo. The van went toward Villamor Airbase in Pasay City.
Ellen Tordesillas tells of an insider’s version of how the ZTE deal was ‘cooked.’ Malaya.
Security cams capture PSG man with Lozada in airport

Resign Gloria-Noli Petition

A petition is now circulating online for the immediate resignation of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Vice President Manuel "Noli" de Castro Jr., with Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV kicking off the signature drive.

The petition, started last Sunday by "Juan de la Cruz" on the Web site PetitionOnline , also called for the holding of special "snap" elections within 60 days.

GMA TV NEWS

9 dead, 113 hurt in bombing attack at Makati mall

Here they go again. GMA signature has something to do with 'impeach me', 'investigate me' and now 'bomb me'. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what’s happening in our country today. Maybe by coincidence Glorietta mall was the bombing target. Glorietta is a derivative of Gloria. The sinister plan is to portray her as the victim. She exploited the bombing incident by all means to gain public sympathy. In the headlines-Gloria Arroyo visits Makati bombing victims. Crocodile tears are flowing in front of digital world audience. GMA cannot stand the political heat and so she needs a quick diversion.

Everything is possible under corrupt Arroyo regime. Innocent lives have been sacrificed for political gain. Gloria Arroyo and her cohorts are the usual suspects. Plastic bomb or C-4 explosives are military arsenal. Operation Greenbase part II??? Justice for the victims!
Related Links
Trillanes' camp tags Esperon, Gonzales in Makati mall blast
Senators condemn Makati blast
Makati blast not cause by methane-diesel mix
UP chemist debunks PNP's 'gas leak' theory in mall blast
RDX not in Cosmetics and Deodorants
Ayala Land disputes gas explosion

Elections chief Benjamin Abalos, Sr. Resigns

The resignation of Abalos is a part of Malacanang’s game plan. It’s a calculated Queen’s Knight Sacrifice to save the throne. Elections chief Benjamin Abalos, Sr. is just a sacrificial lamb to absorb the heat from the $329-M ZTE-NBN scam. Paper trails points directly to Malalcanang Palace. Gloria Arroyo and Jose Pidal are held responsible for the ZTE scam. Who's next to resign?


Razon's Hand in ZTE-NBN Deal
Razon now most powerful businessman, says De Venecia son

Smoking Gun: GMA “special authority" document

Arroyo-okayed-talks-with-ZTE-on-NBN-before-NEDA-review

The buck stops at the doors of Malacanang Palace based on paper trails submitted to Senate Blue Ribbon Committee. Congenital liar Gloria Arroyo approved the anomalous $ 329 M ZTE-NBN project. She pretends innocence and lied to the public about “internal-discreet” investigation on P200 M bribery offered by Elections chief Benjamin Abalos to NEDA chief Romulo Neri. Why? There’s no official report and no government agency came forward who did the investigation. It’s too late for Malacanang-led formal probe on ZTE-NBN scam. The Ombudsman, the Lower House and the Senate have already started its investigation.
We expect another cover-up operation at the expense of peoples’ taxes. According to GMANewsTV: Through "special authority" documents she gave two Cabinet secretaries, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo authorized negotiations for the award of the national broadband network (NBN) project to China’s ZTE Corporation, months before the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) started its evaluation of the NBN project, according to official records submitted to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee. Here she goes again, lying to her teeth big time.

Other Gov’t Deals With China Also Marred By Bad Loans And Corruption

Crime Does Not Pay: The Wack-Wack Mafia Conspiracy

Don’t kill the messenger. It’s crystal clear that Miguel and Gloria are directly involved in the ZTE-NBN misdeal. What’s new? Scams, deceit, election fraud and political killings are Gloria Arroyo’s legacy.

Why? Philippine bogus President Gloria Arroyo has allowed Cabinet men implicated in the ZTE-NBN $329.4- M misdeal to attend the Senate inquiry. What’s cooking? Are they sacrificial lambs? The President‘s loyal dogs, Favila-Mendoza-Neri are shock absorbers in the aftereffects of Joey De Venecia’s bombshell at the Senate. I think they cannot save Gloria and Miguel assess. It’s back to back plunder as in AB ZTE FG.

Related links:
‘Mike Arroyo is NBN deal mystery man’
GMA Played Golf with Businessmen Who Bagged Broadband Deal

Abalos’ Golfing Buddy Close to ‘Wiretappers’
Neri to bare all in next Senate hearing on NBN-ZTE deal
Cabinet split on cost, benefits of NBN, overlap with CyberEd
Webcast: DOTC Asst. Sec. Lorenzo Formoso III on $329 M ZTE deal