Resume Jose Pidal probe, Joker urged

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. urged Sen. Joker Arroyo yesterday to resume the inquiry on allegations that First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo laundered illegal funds using the false name of Jose Pidal.

Pimentel told a news conference that Senator Arroyo seems to have conveniently forgotten the Pidal investigation that Pimentel said is still hanging.

"We have to resume the inquiry. If Joker does not want to call Ignacio or Iggy Arroyo, we should call the First Gentleman, whom Sen. Panfilo Lacson has accused of having used the alias Jose Pidal to hide funds that supposedly came from illegal sources," Pimentel said.

He said the people expect the Senate to conclude its Jose Pidal inquiry.

Ten days after Lacson made the accusation against the First Gentleman, his brother Iggy surfaced to claim he is Jose Pidal. The President’s husband has denied the charges against him.

However, when Iggy Arroyo appeared before the Senate, he refused to answer questions about the Jose Pidal accounts in UnionBank and BPI Family Bank by invoking his right to privacy more than 20 times.

Senator Arroyo, chairman of the Blue Ribbon Committee that is leading the Pidal inquiry, has ruled that Ignacio Arroyo was correct in invoking his right to privacy.

Two other committees involved in the investigation are of the opinion that the First Gentleman’s brother has shed such right when he surfaced to claim that he, and not the President’s husband as Lacson claims, is the real Jose Pidal.

But the Blue Ribbon Committee chairman said his opinion must prevail since his committee is the lead investigating panel. The two other committees, chaired by Senators Edgardo Angara and Sergio Osmeña III, were mere "props," he said.

Pimentel said Arroyo cannot insist that his opinion on Iggy Arroyo’s right to privacy must prevail over the contrary views of the two other committees involved in the investigation.

"He acts and thinks as if it is still martial law. That unlamented era is long over. If we put his ruling to a vote, we have the numbers to defeat him," he said.

He said two members of the majority, Senators Loren Legarda and Juan Flavier, would vote to defeat the Arroyo opinion.

Legarda signed the Angara ruling that Iggy Arroyo cannot invoke his right to privacy, while Flavier supported the contradictory Arroyo and Angara opinions.

Pimentel is also at odds with Arroyo over the still-hanging investigation on allegations that some Arroyo administration officials and a lawyer identified with the Arroyo couple allegedly extorted tens of millions of dollars from Fraport AG, the German investor in the controversial airport Terminal 3.

"I think Joker should get out of his cocoon," he said. — Jess Diaz