Ethics panel to probe payola

The House ethics committee decided yesterday to look into the claims of two sectoral representatives that congressmen were each bribed with P500,000 in cash to pass the controversial Omnibus Power Bill.

Rep. Alipio Cirilo Badelles (LAMP, Lanao del Norte), committee chairman, told radio station dzRH that the committee acted on the April 18 letter-complaint of his predecessor, Deputy Speaker Erico Aumentado (LAMP, Bohol).

He said his panel, under the House rules, cannot on its own decide to conduct an inquiry and has to await a formal complaint or a directive from the chamber to investigate.

He agreed that an investigation by any House committee would be suspect since the congressmen themselves have been accused of taking bribes.

However, he said his panel has to act on Aumentado's complaint unless the chamber stops the committee's inquiry in favor of an investigation by the proposed independent commission.

In his letter to Badelles, Aumentado said the allegations of party-list Representatives Renato Magtubo and Loretta Ann Rosales have "damaged considerably the image of the House of Representatives as an institution and the individual members thereof."

He said Magtubo and Rosales "must be given the opportunity to prove their sweeping allegations that every member of the House got P500,000 as bribe for their support of the Omnibus Power Reform Bill, and that their attendance of the session (on April 11 and 12) is by reason of the payola."

Aumentado said he was sure that "several members of the House, including this representation, did not receive any bribe money -- especially the P500,000 adverted to by Representatives Magtubo and Rosales."

He urged the ethics panel to get to the bottom of the case, ferret out the truth and "mete out the proper punishment for those who undermined the honor and integrity of the House."

He suggested that the committee focus on Magtubo's motive in exposing the alleged bribery and determine whether the allegation was connected with the sectoral representative's privilege speech on April 10.

In his speech before his colleagues entitled "Protection or Revolution," Magtubo chided congressmen for sitting on pro-labor bills, including one which seeks a P125 increase in the minimum daily wage.

Magtubo represents the militant labor group Sanlakas in the House.

Aumentado also urged the Badelles committee to speed up its inquiry into Magtubo's previous accusation that House members refused to get involved in the Philippine Airlines employees' strike because they were beholden to PAL chairman Lucio Tan.

"Please act also on the said case in order that justice can be done for all concerned," he pleaded with Badelles.

He reminded the committee that in its investigations, it should always be impartial, "letting justice be done though heavens may fall."

Magtubo and Rosales, who belong to the House minority, have claimed that they each got envelopes containing P500,000 from the office of Minority Leader Feliciano Belmonte Jr. (Lakas, Quezon City).

Belmonte has denied giving any money to Magtubo or Rosales.

The two sectoral congressmen also alleged that their minority and majority colleagues received "bribes."

Many congressmen denied they got the supposed payola, but others said what they received was the normal bonus that Speaker Manuel Villar Jr. distributes among House members preceding a long break in their sessions.

Rep. Arnulfo Fuentebella (LAMP, Camarines Sur), energy committee chairman, for his part turned the tables on Magtubo and Rosales.

He said it was possible that the P1 million the two received was bribe money coming from those opposed to the Omnibus Power Bill.

The measure seeks to restructure the power industry and pave the way for the sale of the state-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor), the largest company in the country in terms of assets.

It could also be the biggest firm in terms of loans, variously estimated at between P500 billion and P700 billion, which could be passed on to taxpayers and consumers.

Several foreign and local companies and businessmen, including administration cronies, are said to be interested in buying Napocor assets.

In a related development, Assistant Minority Leader Raul Gonzalez (NP, Iloilo) urged Rep. Eleandro Jesus Madrona (LAMP, Bukidnon) yesterday to speak up on the alleged bribery issue.

In a letter to Madrona, chairman of the House committee on accounts, Gonzalez said his colleague should "clear the air" as to the source of the alleged bribe.

"May I request your office to confirm or deny that the House has released such a huge amount of some P120 million, which should be the total if every congressman was given P500,000," he said.

Denying he received any amount, the Iloilo congressman said the House budget did not provide for a P120 million "bonus."

"If the House has not released the amount, then your office should make that announcement. If the House did not release such amount, and indeed some congressmen received P500,000, some say P200,000, then who could have been the source of the fund?" he asked.

He said he could not believe that congressmen would be bribed for voting against the power bill, for sitting on their asses, whiling away the time in the lounge reserved only for lawmakers or doing nothing during their marathon session on April 11-12 when they approved the controversial Napocor measure.

Majority Leader Eduardo Gullas (LAMP, Cebu) said he agreed with Rep. Krisel Lagman Luistro (LAMP, Albay) that there was no need to bribe House members into passing the electricity industry reform measure.

"The passage of the power bill was a given, a foregone conclusion, since it was an administration measure and supported by the majority coalition in the House," he said.

Earlier, Luistro said if grease money flowed in the chamber on April 12 as Magtubo and Rosales have alleged, she would have been the first to expose it as what she did when textbook dealer Mary Ann Maslog allegedly tried to offer her a 40 percent commission for school materials allocated for her district.

Luistro is vice president for Luzon of Sanlakas. She is the niece of former communist hit squad leader Filemon "Popoy" Lagman, now a labor organizer and recognized leader of Sanlakas.

But in a statement, Sanlakas said that the party was standing squarely behind the expose of Magtubo, and that Luistro's voting for the power bill was entirely her own decision.

National Sanlakas chairman Max Abalos hinted that Luistro may be sanctioned for "insulting" the party's integrity.

"We shall not allow ourselves to be part of the idle talking shop, which is the House of Representatives," Abalos said, referring to the party's commitment to steer clear of traditional politics.

Gullas expressed support to the decision of the ethics committee to look into Magtubo's and Rosales' allegations.

He said he has talked to many majority and minority members who are of the view that the matter should be resolved by the House itself in accordance with its rules and the Constitution.

Gullas, in effect, does not favor the proposed creation of an independent commission to do the investigation.

The House leadership was correct in rejecting the formation of an independent commission to investigate the alleged payola scandal, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said yesterday.

Pimentel said that the Senate committee on ethics should pursue its investigation of the issue despite fears that the probe would result in a whitewash.

"It is too early to say there will be a whitewash. Subukan muna nila (They must prove themselves first)," he added.

He said that the House investigation should now set a clear direction.

"The investigation should not be directed at meting out sanctions against party-list Rep. Renato Magtubo but rather to determine the veracity of Magtubo's claims," Pimentel said. Magtubo has rejected any participation in the investigation by the House committee on ethics of his charge that congressmen were given P500,000 each to pass the controversial Omnibus Power Reform Bill.

Pimentel, however, contended that Magtubo has no choice but to participate in the House probe.

"The House has enough power to compel the attendance to Magtubo in the investigation," he pointed out.

He said that only when the House committee on ethics has shown itself to be inadequate for the job should the House leadership consider the formation of an independent commission to investigate the controversy. --