Corpus accepts Ping’s offer, but...

Military intelligence chief Col. Victor Corpus has taken up the challenge to withdraw the funds Sen. Panfilo Lacson allegedly stashed away in several foreign banks.

Corpus said yesterday he would gladly use the special power of attorney Lacson signed on Tuesday to withdraw the senator’s purported foreign bank deposits, but on the condition that Lacson’s wife Alice, jailed former President Joseph Estrada and his wife, Sen. Luisa Ejercito, also sign similar documents.

"I will accept that," Corpus said. "But his wife (Alice), former President Estrada and his wife should also execute special powers of attorney."

Lacson, however, rejected Corpus’ demand and insisted that the allegations were trumped-up and politically motivated.Corpus also dared Lacson to execute a waiver to allow a probe of Lacson’s past and current accounts here and abroad.

"I want him to include in his special power of attorney a waiver allowing us to look at his past and present accounts," Corpus said.

Corpus noted that the alleged accounts were existent as of July 20 but admitted Lacson may have electronically transferred his alleged ill-gotten wealth.

"I want a waiver so we can find them (bank accounts) wherever he may hide them. I want him to issue a waiver authorizing us to open all his bank accounts and recover it for the Philippine government," Corpus said.

In a related development, the office of US Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R, California) confirmed "the US government is seriously investigating" allegations that Lacson, along with Estrada, carried large amounts of money into the US.

A statement released by Al Santoli, Rohrabacher’s senior national security and foreign policy adviser, said "Corpus is correct that the US government is seriously investigating this case."

"I have checked with appropriate US government sources. They confirm that US law enforcement agencies are involved, in cooperation with the Philippine government, in this investigation on Lacson/Estrada based on very real initial evidence of large amounts of money being carried into the US," Santoli said.

While Rohrabacher will eventually request a briefing on the findings of US authorities, Santoli said the US Congress is not inclined to press for details in deference to the law enforcement agencies.

No witch hunt

Meanwhile, President Arroyo dismissed opposition claims the scandal was a "witch hunt" and constituted "misuse of government intelligence funds."

"Colonel Corpus is the head of the intelligence service and so that’s his work. He doesn’t have to be instructed, directed by Malacañang to do his work. It is part of his job," the President said from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where she is on a state visit.

At a press conference on the second day of her state visit, Mrs. Arroyo denied previous statements made by Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao that she had knowledge of Corpus’ probe of Lacson and Estrada.

"He doesn’t have to justify anything to me because there are many, many layers of hierarchy between him and me and I cannot go around micro-managing every single bureau director," she said.

For his part, Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, Corpus’ immediate superior, refused to comment on whether he had prior knowledge of Corpus’ probe which included overseas trips which should have been approved by Malacañang.

At the same time, the President also denied the government had misused intelligence funds to fund the overseas probe by Corpus, who insisted that they had evidence to prove their accusations.

The colonel said he expected the supposed depository banks to deny the accounts because they could be criminally liable for "laundering" the funds, amounting to over $700 million, which supposedly came from criminal activities.

"It is only natural for them (bank executives) to deny. Nobody would admit that they accepted (dirty) money. Nobody would leave their own death trail," Corpus said.

Corpus had claimed on Sunday that the Lacsons and the Estradas deposited millions of dollars in several banks in New York, Las Vegas, Canada and Hong Kong.

In a privilege speech at the Senate, however, Lacson denied maintaining any bank account outside the Philippines and even presented a certification from the Citibank branch in Hong Kong that belied the existence of a deposit account reported in media.

Claiming the accounts Corpus reported were non-existent, Lacson executed the special power of attorney the following day and said he would go straight to jail if Corpus could prove the accounts existed by withdrawing the money deposited there.

Both Lacson and Estrada have dismissed the charges as trumped-up and politically motivated.

The House of Representatives also opened an inquiry into what lawmakers called a case of "misallocation of military resources" to spy on and harass opposition figures.

But Corpus said he is also ready to dig into the alleged anomalies committed by former President Fidel Ramos to prove that he is not harassing the opposition.

"I am willing to investigate Ramos if there is a complainant," Corpus said.

‘Not a vindictive type’

Meanwhile, administration Sen. Robert Barbers said the opposition is "off course" in charging that Mrs. Arroyo is behind the alleged "demolition campaign" against Lacson.

"I know President Arroyo. She is not the vindictive type," Barbers said.

"We all know that the allegations against Senator Lacson had started long before Gloria became president," Barbers said, adding that even the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) called on Estrada during his presidency to inform him of Lacson’s activities.

Barbers heads the public order committee that will jointly hear the charges against Lacson with the Blue Ribbon Committee.

Aside from the money laundering scandal, the committees will also look into claims that Lacson was involved in drugs, summary executions of innocent civilians and the murder of publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver, among others.

Militant civic groups also dismissed Lacson’s arguments and said it was "desperate" of Lacson to try to divert public attention from the money-laundering scandal by blaming the communists.

"Lacson is grasping at straws. He’s out to blame everyone for the colossal predicament he’s in," said congressman-apparent Crispin Beltran of the party-list group Bayan Muna and Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) chairman .

"Now, he’s red-baiting and trying to discredit the allegations and charges against him by saying that they’re the doing of the underground movement. Why should he blame the communists? They have nothing to do with Lacson’s criminal shenanigans," Beltran added.

Philippine National Police chief Director General Leandro Mendoza also contested Lacson’s claim that the government should attend to rising criminality in the country instead of "harassing" him.

Mendoza said the PNP is better off now than when Lacson was PNP chief.

The PNP has gone strategic in its approach in fighting crimes while Lacson was tactical in dealing with criminals, Mendoza said.

The PNP has not only employed an iron hand policy in its anti-crime drive but has also taken pro-active approaches, resulting in the arrest of 98 kidnapping syndicate suspects and 207 erring policemen compared to 18 suspected kidnappers nabbed during Lacson’s time. – With reports from Efren Danao, Aurea Calica, Sandy Araneta, Romel Bagares, Jaime Laude