Dichaves, Titong skip RP; Oreta to follow

Presidential friend Jaime Dichaves hurriedly left for Hong Kong late last night with his entire family of eight, signaling the exodus of friends of beleaguered President Estrada.

The departure of the Dichaves family, along with a househelp, followed that of lawyer Estelito Mendoza, one of the lead counsels of President Estrada in his aborted impeachment trial, who left earlier also for Hong Kong.

Sen. Vicente Sotto III and his wife, Helen Gamboa, also left last night for Los Angeles on board Philippine Airlines Flight No. 102.

Sen. Tessie Aquino-Oreta, dubbed as the "dancing queen" of the Senate, was booked on an early morning PAL flight today for Hong Kong.

Sotto and Oreta voted against opening an envelope containing potential damning evidence against Mr. Estrada, after which Oreta did a dance of joy.

Dichaves, who tried to claim ownership of the controversial Jose Velarde account with Equitable-PCI Bank, refused to talk to reporters at the departure area of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, indicating that he was only seeing off his family.

He tried to make the impression that he was not actually leaving by going out of the building, but later sneaked back into the departure lounge through the ramp.

The Dichaves family members who left were his wife Abby, children Alfred Jaime, Andrew James, Jaime James, Janice James, James Arthur, and a helper named Gina Cabugnasan.

The Dichaveses did not book their reservations with Cathay Pacific Airlines, but came with open-dated plane tickets at the CX counters.

"It was a go-show appearance," according to the staff of the airlines, meaning they were chance passengers.

Abby Dichaves, 43, told reporters that they did not expect their departure to get such unusual attention from media who have been staking out at the premier airport. "We are not movie stars," she said.

She said that they would be on a short vacation in Hong Kong in time for the Chinese New Year on Jan. 24. But she did not say if the family would be back in Manila.