Mike A’s camp revives graft charges versus Ping

The camp of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo revived yesterday the graft case against Sen. Panfilo Lacson pending before the Office of the Ombudsman.

Arroyo’s camp distributed copies of the report of the United States-based Financial Crimes Enforcement Network on Lacson’s wife, Alice, who is the subject of FinCEN Case No. 72192.

The graft case against Lacson was filed in August 2002 for his non-declaration of certain properties he owned in his statement of assets and liabilities. All those in government service are required to submit this statement every year.

The FinCEN started to monitor the Lacsons’ holdings in the US after reports came out in newspapers regarding the graft case against the opposition senator.

The First Gentleman’s camp, which obtained the FinCEN documents from the Office of the Ombudsman, said that these documents show the Lacsons are the ones being monitored for alleged money-laundering activities by US authorities.

"Senator Lacson fashions himself as anti-corrupt with his Jose Pidal exposé and goes to the US to file a case against the First Couple. But he’s the one who has an active file with the US authorities," a source said.

The First Gentleman’s lawyer, Jesus Santos, said FinCEN recorded that from May 1996 to 2001, eight addresses in the US were "associated" with the Lacsons, which showed the couple’s real estate investments in America.

One of the houses, located at 1011 Laguna Seca Loop in Chula Vista, California, was reportedly sold by the Lacsons to a certain James Diemer for $185,000 on April 10, 1999, less than a year into the term of former President Joseph Estrada. Lacson was then chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

The FinCEN report listed a company named Orient Light, LLC with address on 14300 Terra Bella st. 73, Panorama City, California as a "possible business affiliation" of the Lacson couple.

The US district court in San Francisco also has documents showing that Lacson himself opened several bank accounts in his own name at the Bank of America branch in Chula Vista, California which in October 2000 had a balance of $285,133.

In 1996, Lacson and his wife used money they had in their bank accounts to purchase a home at 2305 Sea Island Place in Chula Vista, which they sold on July 13, 1999.

Five other houses were listed by the FinCEN report as having been owned by the Lacsons, all in California: 2252 Mountain Road, Chula Vista; 60 14300 Tarabella St. S, Panorama City; 3500 Plaza Boulevard, National City; 2295 California St., San Francisco; and 3530 Locust Ave., Long Beach.

Santos earlier said that at the height of Estrada’s impeachment trial in 2000, Lacson allegedly deposited a total of $450,000 in his wife’s Bank of America account.

"Alam ba ni Erap ito?" he said, making a play on Lacson’s "Alam ba ni Misis Ito(h)" privilege speech, when the opposition senator alleged that the First Gentleman had an affair with his finance officer, Victoria Toh, who was also supposedly one of the dummies for the Jose Pidal accounts.

Santos said the senator and his wife had six bank accounts in the US with a total deposit of $1.1 million. He based his information supposedly on documents obtained from the Ombudsman and the US district court in San Francisco.

He said bank records subpoenaed by Commissioner Miles Erlich, assistant US attorney of the Northern District of California detailed Lacson’s salting of more than a million dollars from the Philippines to his wife’s US bank accounts in the twilight days of Estrada’s administration.

"Lacson knew it was time to save himself, and much (if not) all, his ill-gotten wealth," Santos said.

Arroyo’s lawyer said that on Nov. 13, 2000 Lacson’s wife was at the PCI Bank BF-Aguirre branch remitting $100,000 to an account in the Bank of America in California.

Two days later, as the move to impeach Estrada gained momentum, Santos said a friend of the senator’s named Teresita Go sent $50,000 to the same account through the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC) in Makati City.

Twelve days later, on Nov. 27, 2000, $150,000 was sent to same account through HSBC, he said.

A day after Christmas, Lacson’s wife sent her own account in California the sum of $145,000 from her account in PCI Bank BF-Aguirre branch. Because of the Christmas banking holiday, the amount was debited to her account only on Jan. 3, 2001, Santos said.

He added that after EDSA II, when Estrada was ousted from power in January 2001, Lacson withdrew all the money and moved his stash to a safer place.

"When he saw the coast was clear, he remitted back from the US $246,199.25 back to his account here at the UnionBank of the Philippines," Santos said. Lacson had just been elected as senator in the 2001 elections.

This is reflected in FinCEN’s report, which stated that the amount was in a cashier’s check and removed from the US bank on June 5, 2001.

Santos said the First Gentleman’s camp presented hard evidence against Lacson, unlike the opposition’s charges against his client.

"The truth must prevail over and above falsehoods," he said.

Santos said Lacson’s return from abroad is now a "crying need," particularly for the Senate, so that the senator would face the case filed against him before the Ombudsman and prove his allegations against the First Gentleman.

Arroyo’s camp said the Ombudsman’s investigation into graft charges against Lacson has been delayed due to the legal maneuverings of the senator’s lawyers.

Santos said they decided to defer the filing of a complaint against Lacson before the Senate ethics committee in deference to the opinion voiced by Senate President Franklin Drilon that it would be prejudicial since the Senate has decided to continue investigating the Jose Pidal controversy.

Arroyo’s camp is nevertheless gathering all the evidence and information that can be used in the cases they filed and are planning to file against Lacson, a source said.

Meanwhile, more than 100 members of the People’s Movement Against Poverty held a noise barrage along Paseo de Roxas and demanded the resignation of President Arroyo.

Makati policemen prevented the rallyists from going through Perea street, where the LTA Building owned by the Arroyo family is located. The rallyists then proceeded to Ayala Avenue, where some of them participated in a "die-in."