Blue Ribbon sets hearing for Marcelo testimony

The Senate Blue Ribbon committee has set for tomorrow the resumption of the probe into the Philippine Communications Clearing House Inc. (PCCI) franchise scandal, to be highlighted by the testimony of controversial witness Pacifico Marcelo.

Blue Ribbon chairman Sen. Joker Arroyo said the witness has already been informed of the schedule through a letter to opposition Sen. Edgardo Angara "since the minority had been cradling anyway their new herald since he surfaced."

In response, Angara refused to grant Arroyo’s request, returning the letter coursed through his office.

"You are old enough to know that the duty of the committee is to notify the witness directly and not through me. I have nothing to do with Mr. Marcelo and do not know his whereabouts," he said in a letter to the committee chairman.

Marcelo, majority owner of PCCI and APC Wireless Interface, claimed in an affidavit that President Arroyo wanted to wrest majority control of the two telecom firms in exchange for the approval of a franchise. The President, who vetoed the legislative franchise of the two firms last April, denied the charge.

Arroyo said he sought the assistance of Angara since Marcelo had avoided being served a notice in the past hearings.

"It is hoped that the minority will not find a way of derailing the Dec. 7 hearing the way it did with the previous one," the senator said.

Earlier, he claimed the ACCRA law offices identified with Angara had prepared the affidavit of Marcelo.

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. welcomed the scheduling of the hearing, but pointed out that it was not the responsibility of the minority to trace Marcelo.

"He should exert all effort to notify the witness because it is his duty as committee chairman," Pimentel said. "I am not in contact with Marcelo, he is not my witness."

He said it would best to let Marcelo testify as soon as possible, considering the witness has been threatened with deportation due to questions on his citizenship.

"The implications of delaying his testimony seriously affect the President’s posture that she has nothing to hide. I know you have the President’s welfare at heart and would do what is best for her and the country, of course," Pimentel said in an earlier request to Arroyo.

Opposition senators and Arroyo have been trading barbs over the issue of Marcelo’s testimony, which the Blue Ribbon wants to hear after hearings on other Senate matters.

In a related development, the opposition Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) expressed apprehension yesterday that Malacañang may be preparing a new round of "black propaganda" tricks against Marcelo.

PMP spokesman Jesus Crispin Remulla said the sudden turnaround of Arroyo in canceling a scheduled hearing on the telecoms controversy "fueled speculation that something is afoot."

"Our apprehension is that the hearing is being deliberately delayed to give way to a new round of efforts to discredit Marcelo as a witness," Remulla said.

He recalled that black propaganda against Marcelo surfaced almost immediately after he revealed the President’s alleged role in the telecoms scandal.

"Not long after he was picked up for questioning by operatives of the Bureau of Immigration," Remulla said. "With all due respect to Senator Arroyo, the integrity and credibility of the Senate is repeatedly undermined and placed at risk with the unending delays in the hearing."