Lacson hunts for evidence abroad

Opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson may yet drop more bombshells that could further unnerve the Arroyo administration once he arrives from an "evidence-hunting" expedition abroad.

Lacson’s political adviser Lito Banayo said the senator, who is on a trip to Hong Kong and Australia, may present evidence against government agency heads who were appointed by President Arroyo "on the strength of the recommendation" of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo.

Banayo said Lacson, expected to return this week, will likely reveal the evidence in the course of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearings on the Jose Pidal controversy.

"There will be a (Senate) recess this week. There may be no privilege speech until October but if the hearings continue then the exposes may already be delivered right there and then," Banayo said in an interview with the ANC cable television late Sunday.

The evidence that the senator is supposedly collating are "not centered" on his exposé linking the First Gentleman to the Jose Pidal accounts, he said.

"The kind of evidence that may be gathered from Hong Kong and Australia are evidence that would prove other instances of corruption of other agencies whose chief executive officers were appointed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on the strength of the recommendation of Jose Miguel Arroyo," Banayo said.

He noted that Lacson, a former chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), has "extensive contacts" with police departments in neighboring countries. He did not elaborate.

He said Lacson’s exposé against the First Gentleman’s alleged money laundering activities led him to "leads and reports from concerned government officials and employees" that were "related to other government agencies involved in graft and corruption."

"That is the beauty of making an exposition and being viewed as sincere when you make the exposition because then people come out of their closets and give you material evidence," Banayo said.

He said that Lacson was only accompanied by an aide when he left Manila last week.

Confident on the strength of the evidence against the First Gentleman, Banayo said the Blue Ribbon Committee may ask "different law enforcement or judicial agencies of the government" to file charges against Arroyo once the committee winds up its hearings.