Marcelo was offered P80-M to hit Arroyo – witness

Controversial businessman Pacifico Marcelo was offered P80 million by the opposition to directly link President Arroyo to the controversy on his vetoed telecommunications firm, a witness at the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee claimed yesterday.

Jonathan Ojano, vice president of another firm owned by Marcelo, said that Marcelo revealed the P80-million offer to him last October while they were discussing the status of some of their transactions with the government.

"He said that ... Senator (Edgardo) Angara had offered him double what he had already lost or P80 million if Marcelo could and will directly link the President to the telecom controversy," Ojano said.

The committee is investigating reports that First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo was given a P40-million bribe to recall the presidential veto of the Philippine Communications Clearinghouse Inc. owned by Marcelo, and Marcelo’s claim that the President wanted to get 51 percent of PCCI in a meeting at Malacañang last August.

Angara immediately denied Ojano’s allegations, branding him "a perjured witness."

"He (Ojano) is a polluted source, a rehearsed witness. He is a political operative out to destabilize the opposition," Angara said.

He said that he had never known Marcelo before, a claim corroborated by Marcelo.

Marcelo said that yesterday’s hearing was the first time he met the opposition senator.

In his testimony, Ojano claimed that on a separate occasion, Marcelo also said that the opposition has a destabilization fund amounting to P200 million, and that the P80 million will come from this fund.

He said that Marcelo recounted to him the meeting at Malacañang with the President, and he could not recall Marcelo ever saying the President wanted him to relinquish 51 percent of PCCI.

He also claimed that last September, Marcelo asked him for his opinion about the idea of extorting $5 million from Mike Arroyo "in exchange for maintaining his wife’s position in government."

Ojano said he did not take that proposition seriously.

"I then joked that ‘Pare, hindi iyan kakagatin ni Mike. Kuripot iyan, sabi ni Bing (Retirado)’," (Mike won’t bite because he’s a tightwad), he said, saying that ended the discussion of that matter.

Retirado was a former member of Mrs. Arroyo’s staff when she was still senator.

Meanwhile, Marcelo conceded yesterday at a Senate inquiry that President Arroyo never asked him outright for majority control of his telecommunications firm in a meeting in Malacañang last August.

In his testimony before the Blue Ribbon Committee headed by Sen. Joker Arroyo and under intense questioning by Senators Renato Cayetano, Francis Pangilinan and Ralph Recto, Marcelo said that the President did not categorically seek to wrest from him his majority ownership of PCCI, whose legislative franchise she had earlier vetoed.

He said that he reached this conclusion because the President had asked him if he had already talked with "Nonong Cruz," referring to Presidential Legal Adviser Avelino Cruz.

Marcelo said that he did not talk with Cruz but did with lawyer Jess Manalo whom he described as representing Cruz.

Marcelo told the Senate that Manalo approached him on May 2 about giving up 51 percent of PCCI: 31 percent for free, and 21 percent to be paid.

He also cited the alleged statement of the President refusing his appeal for the revival of his firm.

"No, you cannot set up the clearinghouse. We will set it up," Marcelo quoted the President as saying.

He said that he thought the President was referring to the government so he told her that under the law, the government could not compete with the private sector.

Manalo, however, denied Marcelo’s claim. Manalo told the committee that he has his own law firm and so he could not possibly represent Cruz, head of another law firm.

Manalo contended that he talked with Marcelo not on May 2 but June 18, and this was when he was asked his legal opinion on the recall of the presidential veto.

"I told them that there is no way the veto could be recalled except by a two-thirds vote of Congress," Manalo said.

He stressed that he did not discuss any other issue like the yielding of majority control of PCCI.

Marcelo admitted that since there were no witnesses in his meeting with the President, the issue has boiled down to his word against Mrs. Arroyo’s.

At Malacañang, the President reiterated her categorical denial of Marcelo’s allegations that she demanded control of his telecom firm. She also said this was the first time she heard of Manalo.

"Frankly, I don’t know Manalo. Never heard of him until today," she said, adding she caught glimpses of Marcelo’s testimony in between meetings.

Knowing the consequences

Asked by Angara why he kept quiet for four months since that meeting, Marcelo replied: "As a businessman, I don’t want to have any conflict with Malacañang. I wanted to revive my firm. If I tell the truth, I know that I’ll be going against the President, and I know the consequences, but the Senate kept on asking me to appear, so I’m here."

Opposition Senators Tessie Aquino-Oreta and Panfilo Lacson contended that the claim of Marcelo appears to be more credible than the denial of Malacañang.

"The surreptitious manner in which Marcelo was made to meet Gloria indicated that there something fishy in the agenda and that she did not want the meeting to become public," the opposition said.

Cayetano, however, said the fact that Malacañang admitted the meeting took place indicated that the President had nothing to hide.

"It would have been simple for the President to deny that the meeting took place but she did not," Cayetano pointed out.

He also claimed that the credibility of Marcelo was dented by the latter’s doubtful citizenship.

Marcelo said that he became a naturalized US citizen in August 1996 but that he renounced this and reacquired his Filipino citizenship in 1998. He, however, admitted that he has been using his American passport and that he has been writing down his citizenship in the immigration embarkation card as "American."

Cayetano, Pangilinan and Recto asked for the submission of documents proving Marcelo is a Filipino citizen.

"If Marcelo can lie about his citizenship, then he can lie about other things," Pangilinan said.

Lacson questioned this "preoccupation" with Marcelo’s citizenship, saying this should not bar anybody from making accusations against the President.

Cayetano also questioned Marcelo’s claim that he was about to give 51 percent of PCCI to Titan Communications based in San Diego, California, for $76 million.

"This Marcelo is making stories! How can he do that when Titan is an American company and under the law, can have no more than 40 percent of a firm?" said Cayetano, a leading lawyer.

He also expressed disbelief that the President would try to wrest control of PCCI.

"The PCCI is a dead firm without any franchise," Cayetano explained.

The hearing, held at the Senate session hall, was punctuated by heated exchanges between Arroyo and Angara.

"Joker wanted to railroad the hearing. He made some rules that are tilted. Had we not arrived, he would have succeeded," Angara complained.

He was referring to Arroyo’s earlier call to limit each senator to one minute of questioning and on the topics to be asked.

Angara also charged that Arroyo was already evaluating the testimony of Marcelo, which could constitute prejudgment.

On other hand, former Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago called on Filipinos yesterday to subject Mrs. Arroyo to a "People’s Court Trial" if the Senate stonewalls ongoing investigation on Marcelo’s allegations.

"If there is basis in the system that was used against former President Joseph Estrada, that same system must also be used against Arroyo," she said. – With reports from Marichu Villanueva, Jose Rodel Clapano