Escaler back in town

SILANG, Cavite — Businessman Ernest Escaler, the investment banker who was accused of serving as a conduit for an alleged bribe to Justice Secretary-on leave Hernando Perez, is back in town.

A day after arriving from a two week trip to the United States, Escaler was already singing with old retro buddies, and not about any questionable bank account in Hong Kong.

Escaler left the country on Nov. 27, shortly after Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez, who is fighting extradition to the US, accused him of serving as a conduit for a $2 million bribe the congressman allegedly paid Perez in February last year.

Escaler, who was thought to have "fled" to the US after he was implicated in the bribery charge, told The STAR that he did not flee to avoid being dragged deeper into the ongoing word war between Perez and Jimenez but went to the US on business.

Escaler, who arrived only on Friday, attended a Christmas dinner-dance party on Saturday at the St. Anthony School here along with 200 other guests, mostly from "high society."

The STAR, however, could not immediately establish where and how Escaler managed to slip back into the country undetected by hounding journalists.

The party was supposed to have been held at Escaler’s Gourmet Cafe Al Fresco but was transferred to the school’s covered court because of rain.

Security at the party was particularly tight with guards demanding that each guest present their ticket, which cost P1,000 apiece, before being admitted.

At times, Escaler appeared wary but he later sang two songs with the band Spirit of ‘67.

At one point, one band member caught this reporter taking a picture while Escaler was singing.

"Who was that taking pictures while Ernest was on stage?" the band member said.

"Maybe (he’s) from the (Philippine Daily) Inquirer," answered another band member, to the laughter of the audience that included Justice Undersecretary Manuel Teehankee.

Security people started following this reporter when they heard the band members, forcing The STAR to slip out of the party.

Escaler was implicated in the Perez-Jimenez spat after Jimenez, in a privileged speech at the House of Representatives on Nov. 25, directly accused Perez of extorting $2 million from him shortly after the Arroyo administration came to power in 2001.

Jimenez had claimed that he coursed the money through Escaler which was wired from Jimenez’s account in the Trade and Commerce Bank in Uruguay to the Trade and Commerce Bank in the Cayman Islands, thence to Chase Manhattan Bank in New York before ending up in Coutts Bank in Hong Kong.

Jimenez demanded that Perez open that Coutts Bank account, numbered HO 13706, to public scrutiny.

But, at Perez’s request, Coutts Bank on Nov. 26 issued a certification denying that the justice secretary ever had an account in the bank.

Jimenez later said that the account was actually in Escaler’s name but Escaler said he "never received money for Nani Perez from anyone."

Instead, Escaler said on Nov. 27 that if Jimenez would issue a written authorization, the investment banker would be "pleased" to disclose the details of the transaction. He said that as an investment banker he could not divulge his clients’ financial transactions. Escaler left in the evening of the same date.

Jimenez, who has not issued the authorization Escaler requested, insisted that Perez extorted money from him and demanded that the government use diplomatic channels to open the Coutts Bank account.

On Dec. 13, however, Perez’s lawyers said that Jimenez charge was a "fake" because the Trade and Commerce Bank office in Uruguay, where the money was supposed to have originated, was in fact nonexistent.

Before he was stuck in the $2-million dollar controversy, Escaler was happy producing organic vegetables, Broadway musicals and gourmet coffee.

Escaler is one of the producers of the musical Flower Drum Song starring Lea Salonga, now playing on Broadway.

He is also chairman of the Asian Cultural Council-Philippines, which earlier this year hosted a gala reception for David Rockefeller Jr. and other trustees of ACC-New York. In attendance were President Arroyo, Perez, Speaker and Mrs. Jose de Venecia, and Sen. Francis Pangilinan, among other political and social luminaries.

Escaler actually started out as a gentleman-farmer in the organic Gourmet Farms. He is now reportedly also into hydroponic farming.

But the latest addition in his otherwise wholesome resume may force investigators and similar like-minded inquisitors to have him "show us the money," or at least bare that bank account.