‘Ping in trouble if he can’t prove allegations’

Opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson would have "a lot of explaining to do" if he fails to produce witnesses and evidence in tomorrow’s inquiry on the money laundering allegations against First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel said.

Pimentel doubts that Lacson’s key witness, Eugenio Mahusay Jr., who claimed that Arroyo laundered money, would stick to his allegations.

A lowly messenger like Mahusay, who works for Arroyo, was the kind of witness that could easily be coerced to change his story, Pimentel said.

"Mahusay’s rank in the office was already too low for him to stand on his own as a witness. I saw him as one who could easily change his mind under pressure," Pimentel said.

Mahusay said he deposited money for Arroyo in several dummy bank accounts, one of which was under the name Jose Pidal. He said he saw Arroyo sign checks as Jose Pidal.

However, he bolted Lacson’s protective custody last week, raising doubts on whether he would stand by his allegations.

Mahusay said he fled Lacson’s custody after overhearing two guards assigned to him talking about a plan to kill him afterwards.

Lacson denied planning to kill his own witness, describing the claim as "not only illogical but outright ridiculous."

Two lawmakers, Malabon-Navotas Rep. Ricky Sandoval and Bukidnon Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri, challenged Lacson to present the two guards "for a public confrontation with the witness on the plan to kill him."

"If the senator will deny this, then there should be no problem for him to present the guards since Mahusay can identify the men who he had overheard saying he will be eliminated," they said in a joint statement yesterday.

Lacson accuses the Arroyo administration of snatching Mahusay from his custody to make him change his story.

Denying accusations that he held Mahusay against his will, Lacson said his former witness kept his cellular phone, which Mahusay said he used to call his brothers to fetch him.

Sandoval and Zubiri said Lacson should present the two men "so that the public may know who is the liar" and to prove that Mahusay was indeed abducted by the Arroyo administration.

They pointed out that Lacson did not identify the two guards when he denied in press interviews the alleged plan to kill Mahusay.

Mahusay himself denied that he was abducted by the government, Sandoval and Zubiri added.

Mahusay said he phoned and asked his two brothers and Housing Secretary Michael Defensor, who stood as his wedding sponsor in 1997 along with Arroyo, to fetch him at an apartelle in Tagaytay City where he was staying.

Although he aired an apology to Arroyo, Mahusay did not categorically recant a sworn statement detailing the allegations.

Unperturbed by the setback, Lacson said he has other witnesses and the evidence would back up the accusations.

Lacson accuses Arroyo of laundering up to P100 million in several dummy bank accounts, including one under the name Jose Pidal.

Arroyo denied the allegations and has sued Lacson seeking P10 million in damages.

In a television interview Thursday, a businessman claimed the Jose Pidal account was his and that he used an alias to thwart possible kidnapping attempts.