If they’ve got the goods on Lacson, go to court / If they want to grab the Abus, they’re in Zamboanga!

With so many clamoring for Senator (ex-General) Panfilo Lacson’s scalp, anyone who says "wait a minute" will immediately be dubbed a "Lacson apologist" or "Lacson defender." But I have, as a veteran reporter to inquire how, in just a few weeks, a military intelligence team could get such detailed information on 18 time and checking accounts amounting to US$728 million allegedly belonging to Lacson, or jointly with his wife Alice, and even with deposed President Estrada and don’t forget Sen. Loi Estrada, from banks in Hong Kong, the United States and Canada.

If, indeed, our old friend Col. Victor Corpus, chief of ISAFP (Intelligence Services, Armed Forces of the Philippines) and his crackerjack team of military and police investigators have the "goods" on Lacson, wife Alice, and Erap – who by now is going back and forth between his Veterans Memorial Hospital "prison" and the courts like a ping-pong ball – then let the super-sleuths charge the suspects in court.

It’s ridiculous of Colonel Corpus, after blasting Lacson, etc., all to hell in the media, to cop out by lamely saying that his work is "done" after having made the exposé. Wrong. When you publicly accuse somebody, whether senator or squatter, of skulduggery and wrongdoing, it’s your duty now to prove your allegations in a court of law. In short, Corpus’s work has just begun. He and his men have got to make their accusations stick. Otherwise, what they did would constitute libel and slander.

Even the devil, it’s said, must be given his due. Let me play Devil’s Advocate for a moment, then, by pointing out that bank secrecy laws in the US are super-strict, and bank accounts can be examined only through the Office of the Controller of Currency (OCC), under the Fed. True enough, US Customs, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), with a court warrant, can crack this wall of secrecy in search of drug money laundering and other major crimes. If, indeed, Corpus got his information with the help of the US Customs service, then he’ll have to get US Customs or the American federal government to back up what he revealed.

I notice that the US Embassy here has already disclosed the stand of the US State Department. The Americans will neither confirm nor deny what Corpus and his men "disclosed" with such stunning effect. The only thing that Americans are willing to say is that there exists an agreement on cooperation between the US and Philippine governments, and that they are looking into the matter. Interesting, too?

Incidentally, the influential New York Times has just sent its own team of investigative reporters to inquire into L’Affaire Lacson and the alleged bank accounts of the former PNP chief. Let’s see, in the next few days, what they’ll turn up. If the New York Times could filch – uh, get a "feed" on the top-secret Pentagon Papers in the past – why those NYT snoops just might be able to penetrate Citibank in New York, San Francisco, and elsewhere. But, once again, banks in the US are required by law to guard their secrets more zealously than convent school girls in the 19th century guarded their virginity. (Anyway, a bank that blabs would immediately lose all its depositors.)

The second sticking point that gives me pause is why Ping Lacson – who is supposed to be cunning, crafty, scheming and, as his accusers declare, even murderous – deposited so many hundred of millions of dollars openly, in his own name, gee whiz, in US banks where there are so many Filipinos or Filipino-Americans in the webwork to "spy" on him.

Why not some other country with a strange-sounding name? Why not a numbered bank account in Europe? Why not in Ushuala, the Fin del Mundo ("the end of the world") in Patagonia?

Yesterday, Lacson challenged Corpus to prove his allegations by offering to give him a "power-of-attorney" to withdraw all the millions that Corpus claimed existed from the bank accounts which he had named. The ISAFP chief avoided accepting the challenge by grumbling that it was a trap, since those bank accounts -- Susmariosep that’s what he said – are "secret."

Why Vic, your ISAFP investigators, allegedly with the help of the US Customs service, have already earlier demonstrated that they were not "secret" after all?

This is not a brief for Lacson. Let him slug it out with his accusers like the slugger he is. But the proper place to nail him is in a court of law. That’s where it must be determined that what they have against him is prima facie evidence, or simply a ton of bullshit.

Up to now, Lacson has been tried by publicity. He’s been damned by pundits and sober-minded citizens in the sharpest terms; he’s practically been condemned to the fires of hell. But justice, which must be even-handed even if you’re dealing with a serial killer, demands that he be given his day in court.

As for banks being ready to "tell all", some bankers and executives told me yesterday that the safest place nowadays to deposit and conceal your money, whether legitimate or hidden wealth, is Manila. This is because, more than ever, scared banks are imposing the seal of omerta. The entire banking system sat up and took notice of what happened after helpful bank executives "volunteered" to reveal to the Senate impeachment trial the bank accounts of "Jose Velarde" and other accounts. Almost at once, many depositors of the helpful bank, the PCIB-Equitable, rushed to withdraw their money and squirrel it away elsewhere. The bank concerned lost P32 billion in deposits. If it didn’t have a deep pocket, PCIB-Equitable would have shrunk into a rural bank.

The significance of that bank "run" has not been lost on the banking community. It’s not just the crooks but everybody, whether Tomas, Jones or Kulasa, who doesn’t want others peeking into his bank accounts or balances. Some husbands don’t want their wives, or their mistresses, to know where and how much. Others would be embarrassed if outsiders knew how "little."

* * *

Senate President Franklin Drilon told me yesterday that the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, as its first endeavor under its new Chairman Senator Joker Arroyo, will be looking into the Lacson case. Arroyo, who had demurred for weeks from taking up the post, has gotten the budget he requested as a condition, which will enable him to appoint a General Counsel and maintain an adequate staff.

The Blue Ribbon will summon "Rosebud" and Ador, two of Senator Lacson’s original accusers, to testify. Well, this all sounds terrific, but can the excuse for 23 of Lacson’s peers to investigate him be described as "in aid of legislation"? What’s there to legislate? If Senator Lacson had really gotten all that stash (sanamagan, hundreds of millions of bucks at P54 per dollar!), misdeclared his assets, and opened bank accounts abroad to conceal them, then there are already clear-cut laws to punish him. There are anti-graft and anti-corruption statutes, and those requiring public officials to faithfully report their assets and liabilities.

As a matter of fact, Col. Mario Chan, who led the investigating team abroad, has even mentioned specific laws that may fit those crimes, including the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act 3019), then the law requiring public officials to file their Statement of Assets and Liabilities (R.A. 6713), not to mention the now-famous law on plunder, and that on perjury.

There will be a lot of fine speechmaking, orating, and the demonstration of lawyerly skills in the Senate, but wouldn’t it be, outside of the frontpage drama it engenders, a circus going nowhere? Properly, the case ought to be filed with the Ombudsman – even if you know what I think of the Ombudsman.

* * *

With President Arroyo in Kuala Lumpur, basking in the red carpet "royal salute" she’s been provided by Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohammad and his government, a "peace pact" has been signed – brokered by the Malaysians – between our government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). How nice. Now, the MILF armed cadres will disappear then reappear as guerrillas of the Abu Sayyaf.

That’s the way it’s done with mirrors in Mindanao.

And, by the way, while our military and police are making a big show of tracking down the Abus and rescuing some hostages (those who didn’t tragically end up beheaded), the Abus blithely skip in and out of town. Don’t tell me our officers and men down there, while issuing a stream of gallant press releases, are only playing "blind man’s bluff".

The cadres of the Abu Sayyaf are so confident of not being hunted down and "pulverized" that they send some of their cadres, in full view, for R & R (Rest & Recreation) across the strait to nearby Zamboanga City. Local residents can point them out, but our military seem to be looking the other way. They even go to the discos. This is why "Christians" don’t go to the discotheque anymore. Those joints are full of armed Moros.

What’s amazing is that Muslims can swagger around in fair Zamboanga, toting arms including automatic weapons because "it’s a cultural thing." The Abu cadres are not strangers in Zamboanga. Despite the image of the cruel Abus as a ragtag bandit gang, many of the Abus were originally recruited from among the student fraternities in Zamboanga, particularly from the AE Colleges (Antonio Eustaquio) and the Western Mindanao State University (WMSU).

Some of them even started out as "military assets" in Maluso, Basilan. (Remember the days of Edwin Angeles, originally a Christian, later to resurface as a Moro rebel leader?)

Incidentally, what ever came of the call of Rep. Jose Miguel Zubiri for the investigation of Army Col. Jovenal Narcise, former Commander of Task Force Basilan, the officer whose men had encircled the Abu Sayyaf and their hostages from Dos Palmas resort (including three Americans) in Lamitan town? Strangely, it’s said, Colonel Narcise called his men from their positions (where they had encircled and trapped the desperate Abu Sayyaf kidnappers) "for a conference." Salamabit, what field commander summons his troops for a conference in the middle of a battle? The Abus that night, taking their hapless captives along with them, escaped from the Lamitan hospital and vanished into the brush. I won’t say that P5 million exchanged hands, but what happened to Col. Narcise after the Abus – who should have been "crushed" that night – got away? He was relieved of his Basilan command by Gen. Gregorio Camiling, the Southcom Commander. But not for the "disciplinary" action. He was merely reassigned to Cotabato. But, the way I hear it, he never got there. Where is he? In America? Opening a bank account there?

Zubiri ought to ask: What happened? After all, he had the guts to open the topic. Not one politician from Basilan or Zamboanga asked the question, not Congressman (and former Basilan Governor) Jerry Salapudin or Rep. Caling Lobregat of Zamboanga – only that Spice Boy from Bukidnon!

As for Basilan, which used to be predominantly "Christian", it’s now 50-50, Christian and Muslim. But the Christians there don’t trust the Army, Marines, or PNP, some of whose officers et cetera they believe can be swayed by money – and the kidnapping Abus, dating back the Sipadan hostage days, are awash with hard cash, even dollars. The Christians are grumbling: "Give us guns and we will do the job."

This won’t happen, of course. Christians toting weapons will be arrested for illegal possession of firearms.