Senate minority seeks expulsion of Cayetano

Members of the Senate minority called yesterday for the expulsion of Sen. Renato Cayetano from the chamber in connection with the Best World Resources (BW) stock scandal.

The dissent, which was signed by Senators Robert Jaworski, Blas Ople and Vicente Sotto III, cited "inherent flaws" of a majority report that had earlier cleared Cayetano of any wrongdoing in dealing with stocks of the gaming firm.

"The majority report distorted the facts of the case, applied the wrong quantum of evidence and cleared the senator prematurely," they said.

In seeking his expulsion, the minority said Cayetano’s action was "demeaning and caused damage to the Senate as an institution."

They said there was evidence to prove that Cayetano took advantage of his position as a senator in failing to pay BW majority owner Dante Tan for the shares of the controversial stocks.

Officials of the gaming firm have been accused of conspiring to cause artificial stock sales in an effort to boost the price of BW shares by more than 5,000 percent in 1999.

After more than four months of hearings, the ethics committee, chaired by Sen. Francis Pangilinan, threw out the case against Cayetano for lack of evidence.

Cayetano said the minority should respect the decision of the majority.

Majority senators downplayed the dissenting opinion filed by the minority, saying the ethics committee report that cleared Cayetano would have bearing.

Pangilinan stood pat yesterday on the committee decision not to reopen the case against their colleague.

This came as Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. assailed Pangilinan for refusing to allow the committee to hear more witnesses identified by the minority, including broadcaster Jay Sonza.

Pimentel said Sonza’s testimony is important because he conducted a live broadcast interview with Tan on the sale of BW shares to Cayetano.

Pangilinan, however, rejected this claim of Pimentel. He said that the committee called Sonza three times to talk about his radio interview with Tan, but Sonza failed to appear even once.

He added that Pimentel had also asked the ethics committee to summon Neil Ocampo of dzMM.

"But when we asked for his affidavit, Ocampo said he knew nothing about the BW scam," he said.

Tan was called to testify before the committee but he was nowhere to be found. Broker Raul de Castro, who was named by complainant Jesus Crispin Remulla as witness, was heard by the committee.

"But De Castro said there was nothing unusual in the transaction between Tan and the senator. He also told the committee that Tan himself had guaranteed the investment was above board," Pangilinan recalled.

Pimentel said that the clearance of Cayetano was premature without hearing additional witnesses, including Cayetano himself. Pangilinan, however, countered that the ethics committee had been hearing the case for more than four months already so there was no haste involved in the decision.

"After four months, Senator Pimentel suddenly said that they want Cayetano to appear before the committee. He should have sought this while we were in the midst of hearing the case, not now," Pangilinan said.

He stressed that without the testimony of Tan who had direct dealings with Cayetano, other testimonies would only be hearsay.

"It is easy to criticize and charge whitewash, but we should side with the truth. Our decision is based on law and on evidence," he added. – With Efren Danao