Senate won’t free Gonzales

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales will not be released from detention even if he requires heart surgery until he answers questions on the government’s contract with American lobby firm Venable LLP, an unmoved Sen. Joker Arroyo said yesterday.

Arroyo, whose Blue Ribbon Committee found Gonzales in contempt and ordered him detained last week, rejected an appeal from Gonzales’ lawyer seeking his release, citing his client’s condition.

Doctors recommended yesterday that Gonzales undergo a double bypass heart operation soon after an angiogram taken Sunday night found that his left coronary artery had narrowed.

"We don’t recommend angioplasty because it is more risky. We prefer a two-vessel bypass but it’s elective. It’s for the patient to decide," hospital director Dr. Ludgerio Torres told reporters. "He cannot tolerate any stress of whatever nature."

Gonzales was brought to the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City after suffering from a hypertension episode during an intense three-hour Senate inquiry on the contract.

Arroyo cited him for contempt and ordered his detention after he stonewalled his committee on the foreign contract.

Torres said Gonzales’ condition is normal for someone with diabetes at his age. "He is not seeing his doctor regularly. And if not for the Senate investigation, he would have not found out about his condition."

He explained that an angioplasty was not recommended because it required stopping the heart for a few seconds. Gonzales’ blood pressure went down during the angiogram, which Torres said indicated that Gonzales might be too weak for such a procedure.

"I don’t think he can stand the procedure. We don’t recommend that unless he has undergone the operation. A heart ailment is a traitor. You may look good now but all of a sudden you will fall ill."

But Arroyo, who had earlier rejected Malacañang’s request for his release, stood firm on Gonzales’ detention.

"The release of Secretary Gonzales would be incompatible with the action of the Blue Ribbon Committee to hold him in detention until he gives the information the committee seeks from him," he said.

Arroyo suggested "it might be prudent for him to take a leave of absence. The President can designate an acting national security adviser."

Yesterday, Sen. Miriam Santiago called on the Blue Ribbon Committee to reconsider its contempt citation because of Gonzales’ medical condition.

She also shared Malacañang’s view that Gonzales could not be compelled to answer questions on the Venable contract if it would compromise the nation’s security.

"In his condition, both the law and humanitarian considerations appear to argue in favor of lifting the contempt citation," Santiago said in a statement.

She earlier suggested that Gonzales could instead answer the senators’ questions in a closed-door session.

Gonzales had asked for a private session with the senators during the inquiry, citing the sensitivity of the information, but the request was tersely refused.

Santiago, who chairs the Senate foreign relations committee, will conduct her own inquiry into the Venable contract from a foreign policy viewpoint tomorrow.

"Under the Constitution, it is not only the President who determines our foreign policy. Power-sharing in foreign policy determination is evident from the constitutional provision requiring Senate ratification of any treaty or international agreement," Santiago said.

"We would like to know if the Venable contract required Senate approval, or at the very least if it should have been disclosed to the proper Senate body before it was entered into."

Aside from senators, opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives are also awaiting the hospital release of Gonzales.

Opposition congressmen also want to question him on who authorized him to sign the government’s contract with American lobby firm Venable LLP and who funded it.

"We want him to testify in our own investigation of the controversial Venable LLP lobbying contract," said Deputy Minority Leader Rolex Suplico.

Senators at last week’s inquiry said the contract was inimical to the Philippines’ national interests because it appeared to allow a foreign government to meddle in its affairs.

"He cannot malinger in the Philippine Heart Center. Soon, he will have to appear before us," Suplico said.

Under the contract, Venable would help Manila seek US official and private funding for a number of projects, including President Arroyo’s plans to amend the Constitution.

Suplico said it was Gonzales’ duty to answer lawmakers’ questions on the contract, even if it was funded by private donors, whom Gonzales has refused to identify. "He cannot evade answering our questions," he said.

House Minority Leader Francis Escudero said Gonzales "might as well resign from the Cabinet since he would not be fit to do his job" if he claims that appearing before congressional inquiries could affect his health.

"He cannot be choosy about which duties to discharge," he said.

Last Friday, Gonzales’ sister filed a petition with the Supreme Court to order his release.

In her petition, Violeta Gonzales-Tolentino argued that the detention order was "issued in violation of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, in violation of the jurisprudence set by the Supreme Court and for having been issued with grave abuse of discretion amount to lack of jurisdiction."

Gonzales told the Senate inquiry last week that he received presidential approval to seek a lobbying firm but evaded questions on whether he had the specific authority to sign the contract. He also refused to publicly identify the donors, prompting the Senate committee to cite him for contempt. — With Sheila Crisostomo, Paolo Romero, Jess Diaz