Lim denies P500-M offer to Chavit

Interior and Local Government Secretary Alfredo Lim denied yesterday he offered P500 million to Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson in exchange for the latter’s silence on the jueteng bribes allegedly received by President Estrada.

"That’s not true. I never offered P500 million to anybody," Lim said.

He joked that if he indeed had P500 million in his hands, he would probably have kept it for himself.

"Baka sa panaginip ko lang nahawakan yung P500 million na iyon. Bakit ko ibibigay sa iba? Eh di akin na lang (Maybe it is only in my dreams that I held that P500 million. Why should I give it to somebody else? Better to keep it my-self)," Lim, godfather of one of Singson’s children, said in an interview.

Lim admitted, however, that he visited Singson in the house in Quezon City days after the alleged ambush attempt on the governor along San Marcelino street in Manila. Lim said the meeting with Singson was arranged by another presidential friend, Caloocan Rep. Luis "Baby" Asistio.

According to Lim, the Oct. 7 meeting lasted only for two hours, from 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. The DILG chief said he even offered to reassign to Singson the bodyguards earlier recalled by Philippine National Police chief Director General Panfilo Lacson.

Lim also belied reports he was soft on Singson in the drive against illegal gambling because he knew the Ilocos Sur governor was "acting on behalf of President Estrada."

"I did not know Singson was involved in jueteng. I knew jueteng was going on in his province; that was why we gave orders to General Lacson," Lim said.

Lim said that as head of the DILG, he gave the orders to intensify the campaign against illegal gambling and did not do the arresting himself.

"When it comes to the campaign against illegal gambling, we give it to General Lacson, because he is head of the implementing agency," he added.

Lim said that if it was indeed true Singson is trying to implicate him in the jueteng mess, he has only one message to his kumpadre: "Just tell the truth."

DOJ goes after Chavit by Delon Porcalla

The heat is on for Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) will begin soon its investigation of graft charges filed against Singson, which stemmed from his alleged failure to account for P130 million representing Ilocos Sur’s share of tobacco excise taxes. Singson claimed he gave the money to the President.

Highly reliable sources at the DOJ confirmed yesterday that the Anti-Graft Division of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) headed by CPA-lawyer Carlos Saunar, had turned over the malversation charges to Justice Secretary Artemio Tuquero last week.

According to insiders who asked not to be named, Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño and his associates have refused to handle the controversial graft suit

"Nobody wants to handle the case apparently because of its political implications," the source pointed out.

"There’s no order yet creating a panel of prosecutors. But I think there will be soon," said another source.

But Justice Undersecretary Regis Puno denied that the charges were forwarded by the NBI and promised that he would release a copy of the graft charges once he receives them.

"No, we haven’t received the complaint yet," he said.

Singson, whose allegations that President Estrada received over P400 million in illegal gambling bribes sparked the latter’s impeachment by the House of Representatives, said he was forced to give P130 million of the P200 million tobacco excise taxes to Mr. Estrada in Aug. 1998.

This is the reason the Commission on Audit is running after Singson. But the NBI case is on top of the plunder charges filed by Singson’s predecessor Antonio Villanueva before the Office of the Ombudsman last Oct. 18.

Once the DOJ starts the preliminary investigation, however, a legal complication may take place because the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee and Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights is still investigating this issue which became a major point for the President’s impeachment.

Aside from the NBI suit, Singson is also facing plunder charges before the Ombudsman. Villanueva told Ombudsman Aniano Desierto that his successor’s admission that he withdrew the money makes him criminally liable.

"By such admission, Singson had appropriated for himself proceeds of RA 7171 (share in excise tax collection) in violation of RA 3019 (the Anti-Graft law)," Villanueva stated in his single-page complaint-affidavit.

Villanueva said Singson should be charged with plunder, an offense punishable by death and applicable to government officials who amass at least P50 million from government coffers, because he committed a "crime that affects the survival of the national economy, particularly the province of Ilocos Sur."

Villanueva, who lists as his address the Mayon International Hotel in Legazpi City, claimed, however, that as an Ilocos Sur resident (having been born there), he was deprived of the benefits of the province’s share in tobacco excise taxes.