Marcos 'bagman' denies knowing Araneta

Businessman Gregorio "George" Cadhit denied yesterday being a bagman for Gregorio Araneta III and Irene Marcos-Araneta in the alleged sale of $65 billion worth of gold.

In his testimony before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, Cadhit also rejected allegations that he acted as front for the Araneta couple in maintaining a $4-billion account in Sanwa Bank in Hong Kong.

"That's a brazen lie," he said. "I don't know Greggy Araneta, not in person, not even by phone."

Earlier, Mayor Renato Vizcarra of Ramon town, Isabela, accused Cadhit of selling gold for the Aranetas and maintaining an account for them in a bank in the former Crown Colony.

During the same hearing, Emmanuel Cabral, Tandang Sora branch manager of Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company, presented several documents showing that Cadhit had a savings and checking account with them until Sept. 19, 1998.

Cabral testified that Cadhit opened the account with an initial deposit of P100,000, and that before he closed the account, the deposit had reached P1.2 million.

Cadhit had waived his right under the Bank Secrecy Act and had volunteered to make public his accounts in Metro Bank or any local or foreign bank.

Two witnesses, Eric San Juan and Luz Domingo, testified that they often saw Cadhit in the company of the former first lady, Mrs. Imelda Romualdez Marcos.

San Juan, who is a former close Marcos associate, said he saw Cadhit inside the suite of Mrs. Marcos in the Philippine Plaza Hotel in Manila sometime in 1992.

Cadhit also admitted making several trips to Europe, Hong Kong and the United States, but insisted that he traveled to those places as a tourist, and that his friends had sponsored the trips.

He rebutted point by point Vizcarra's allegations, particularly the one that he withdrew an average of P100,000 to P10 million a day from several banks.

However, he admitted hosting trips for local and barangay officials in Manila as a gesture of goodwill, with money from his personal account.

Asked why Vizcarra had made the allegations, Cadhit said "bad blood exists" between them, and that it started during a recent town fiesta and involved a beauty contest.

Cadhit said Vizcarra is also afraid that he would endanger Vizcarra's political base because he had been raising funds for several barangays in Ramon, Isabela.

"It's purely a political controversy," he said.

He holds a Swedish passport and travels throughout the world in search of snake oil.

Cadhit, a lawyer who works as a property consultant, believes that snake oil can cure his asthma.

And Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, assumes Cadhit is actually looking for the ancient remedy closer to home because the potion is available only in Asia.

"I'm sure that there is no snake oil in Switzerland," he said.

Cadhit said he travels as a tourist with his trusted aide, Fred Tabag, and insists that his trips are financed by "wealthy and powerful friends in various parts of the world."

Tabag is the reason why Cadhit was at the Senate yesterday answering questions from Pimentel. Tabag had introduced him to Vizcarra, who has accused him of being a bagman in the sale of alleged Marcos gold.

Cadhit does not recall how many times he had traveled abroad, but he is sure that his air fares were always pre-paid by "wealthy friends from all over the world."

"I was just a plain tourist," he said.

He said he traveled regularly to Hong Kong to buy snake oil and not to deposit money in a bank as Vizcarra had accused him of doing.

However, one senator said that Cadhit's trip to Scandinavian countries may have something to with the alleged Marcos gold hoard.

Records at the Bureau of Immigration showed that Cadhit frequently traveled to Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and other countries.

Cadhit, on the other hand, said he could not be a Marcos associate because he had helped draft a congressional resolution banning the return of the Marcoses to the country.