Senate to Chavit: Present documents

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee asked Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson yesterday to submit additional documentary evidence to substantiate his accusations that President Estrada received payoffs from illegal gambling operators.

Testifying at the committee hearing the other day, Singson said he delivered over P400 million in jueteng payoffs to President Estrada over a 21-month period.

"I could not refuse what he asked me to do because he is our president. Every 15 days, I gave money to President Estrada and the rest went to the bank," Singson told the committee chaired by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr.

Singson submitted an affidavit accompanied by a ledger ostensibly detailing the dates and amounts of the alleged payoffs he delivered to Mr. Estrada, members of the First Family and certain ranking government officials.

"The so-called ledger of Mr. Singson was prepared by somebody else and so, under the law, the one who can identify the papers has to be the person who prepared it primarily," Pimentel said in a television interview.

Singson told the senators that the ledger was prepared by the President’s accountant, Yolanda Ricaforte.

Meanwhile, Sen. John Osmeña said he would likely inhibit himself from further inquiries by the Blue Ribbon Committee on the jueteng scandal.

"In my own opinion, it would be best for me to inhibit myself from the Senate probe (because I) cannot be a judge and at the same time prosecutor," Osmeña said.

He was referring to a constitutional provision mandating that the Senate has the sole power to try and decide impeachment cases with selected members of the House of Representatives.

"Out of delicadeza, all those who participated in the hearing should inhibit (themselves)," Osmeña said.

Sen. Renato Cayetano, chairman of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, said the President should answer Singson’s allegations.

To avoid a conflict over the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches, Cayetano proposed that the President make his testimony through a video recording similar to what US President Bill Clinton did on the Monica Lewinski sex scandal.

Pimentel clarified, however, that his committee’s inquiry was focused on the privilege speech of Senate Minority Leader Teofisto Guingona Jr. regarding Singson’s exposé.

The committee resumes its fact-finding inquiry this morning with Singson, presidential friend and suspected gambling lord Charlie "Atong" Ang and Mayor Lilia Pineda of Lubao, Pampanga as witnesses.

Pimentel, on motion of Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, has asked the Bureau of Immigration to put on the hold-order list the suspected jueteng operators cited by Singson in his testimony.

The Blue Ribbon Committee has also subpoenaed bank records on the accounts claimed by Singson as depository for the jueteng payoffs, including those in Ang’s name.

Sen. Raul Roco said he received numerous calls from all over the country, commending the Blue Ribbon Committee and the Senate leadership for the conduct of the hearing.

"They said that the hearing showed democracy in action. The Senate has once again risen to its traditional role in Philippine democracy," Roco said.

He refused to comment on the case pending completion of the hearings.

At the same time, Roco chided Philippine National Police chief Director General Panfilo Lacson who vowed he would eradicate jueteng within three months after taking over the PNP post. "Instead of eradicating jueteng, it even grew."

In another development, Rep. Gerardo Espina (Lakas, Biliran) urged the Senate to stop its investigation, saying it might result in a constitutional crisis and possible mistrial.

Espina clarified that under the Charter, the House of Representatives has the exclusive power to initiate all cases of impeachment, and the Senate to sole power to try and decide such cases.

"Supposing that in the next few weeks, the House will pass an article of impeachment against the President and submit it to the Senate for trial, wouldn’t the current hearing conducted by the senators preempt a fair and just trial as the majority of the senators are now participating in the investigation?" Espina asked.

He warned that the senators might form their own conclusions during the probe and prejudge the impeachment case when actual hearings started.

"The Senate should wait until the House acts on the impeachment documents now being prepared by some members, otherwise, any impeachment trial before the Senate might only be an exercise in futility," Espina said.

Mayor Pineda, wife of suspected jueteng lord Rodolfo "Bong" Pineda, said she bared all she knew at the Blue Ribbon hearing.

Meanwhile, former Angeles City Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan lashed out at Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago for dragging Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo into the jueteng scandal during the Blue Ribbon inquiry.

"The Vice President was not at issue during the hearings. The senator (Santiago) had another motive for that questioning," Pamintuan said.

During the hearing, Santiago castigated Pineda for insisting that Arroyo was not close to Bong Pineda.

Pineda claimed that while the Vice President and Bong knew each other, they were not "close friends."

However, Pineda confirmed that Arroyo was one of the major sponsors at the wedding of her son Dennis, a councilor of Lubao, on June 7, 1997. — Perseus Echeminada, Efren Danao, Ding Cervantes