Mikey: Witness is ‘liar king’

Presidential son and Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo said yesterday he felt vindicated by the Senate testimonies of his alleged jueteng bagmen.

"The persons who (Wilfredo) Mayor accused as my jueteng bagmen have stood up in the Senate to disprove his accusations," he said in a statement.

He was referring to Rene Maglanque and Arthur Naguit, whom Mayor claimed Monday last week collected P600,000 monthly from him to deliver to the presidential son.

As for the new witness against him, Richard Garcia, Arroyo said he had expected his testimony "after Mayor was discredited."

"A certain witness has tagged me as the ‘Lion King’ of jueteng, a term invented by his handlers for media value. I am not the Lion King, but he must be the Liar King," he said.

Arroyo said in the face of Maglanque’s and Naguit’s testimonies, he had instructed his lawyer, Grace Maduramente, to study whether he should file perjury charges against Mayor.

Maduramente was one of President Arroyo’s lawyers during the controversial canvassing of congressional votes for president and vice president in June last year.

"We cannot let Mayor’s perjury go unchallenged. We are looking at what we can do to hold him accountable for his statements in the Senate," the President’s son said.

He also described the Senate jueteng hearings as "a politically motivated forum to freely throw mud at the administration."

He noted that yesterday, not only he "but literally scores of other personalities were implicated in jueteng."

"Now they are saying that they would have daily hearings to give the people who were implicated a chance to answer the accusations of the jueteng witnesses. If this keeps up, there will not be enough hours in the day to hear those who have been dragged into this mess. And truly, the (members of the) Senate and Congress (obviously referring to the House) have other, more important things to do as legislators," he added.

Only the third alleged bagman, Leo Katigbak, failed to appear before the Senate committee on public order and illegal gambling chaired by Sen. Manuel Villar, reportedly due to a prior commitment abroad.

A fourth witness in the inquiry, Batangas Gov. Armando Sanchez, also begged off due to an earlier scheduled business trip to Japan.

Based on their testimonies, Maglanque and Naguit virtually cleared Arroyo of involvement in jueteng payoffs when they denied Mayor’s accusation that they had received money through the confessed operator to hand to the congressman.

Maglanque said he had never met Mayor prior to yesterday’s hearing, and denied meeting the admitted jueteng operator previously along with Arroyo’s other friends at Rembrandt Hotel in 2002.

"I have not met Mayor in my entire life," was Maglanque’s response after Sen. Miriam Santiago asked if he was acquainted with Mayor.

Maglanque expressed belief that Mayor had dragged his name into the jueteng hearing to implicate Arroyo. "The only logical reason for Mayor to link me to the jueteng issue is to drag (in) Rep. Arroyo’s name."

Maglanque and Arroyo go back a long way, to when the former was Candaba councilor from 1992-1995. Maglanque became Pampanga provincial board member in 1998-2001 and helped in the campaign of Arroyo for vice governor in 2001.

Maglanque resigned as undersecretary at the Department of Transportation and Communications after he was subjected to lifestyle checks by the government.

Naguit, a former vice mayor in a Pampanga town, said Mayor sought his intercession in seeking help from then Pampanga vice governor Arroyo for medical projects in Albay.

"I was never involved in jueteng, nor did I deal with Mayor regarding jueteng payoffs for Rep. Arroyo," he said.

Naguit recalled that he met Mayor sometime in 2002 when the latter proposed a transaction project involving scrap materials for a power plant located in the Clark Special Economic Zone, but the project fell through.

Despite having saying their piece during the Senate hearing, Maglanque and Naguit said they would still pursue a libel case against Mayor for besmirching their names and reputations in last week’s inquiry.

Their lawyers said there was sufficient basis to indict Mayor for false testimony and libel, which are penalized under Articles 183 and 353, respectively, of the Revised Penal Code.

Mayor, on the other hand, refused to back down from his claims, requesting an executive session with senators to establish that he met with the alleged bagmen at Rembrandt Hotel in 2002 to discuss how Arroyo would get his share of the jueteng payola.

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, who had presented the witnesses at the Senate, said security concerns required calling for an executive session.

"Mayroon pang ibang malapit sa buhay ng dalawang testigo na maaring masaktan," Cruz said, indicating the family of the two witnesses may be the target of a vendetta.

Senator Villar said members of his committee will discuss Mayor’s request after ascertaining the need to conduct a special session, and if more witnesses of higher rank in the government are called to testify.

Sen. Santiago branded the testimonies of the new witnesses as hearsay, saying they would not stand up as evidence in court.

She said there is no need to listen to "more hearsay" since there is no direct evidence to link the Arroyos.

"There is no testimony of any witness so far in the second day of the Senate hearing that establishes direct link between jueteng operations in any area and the First Family. And unfortunately, the rules of court state that witnesses are not to be numbered but they are to be weighed," she said.

Senior Superintendent Pierre Bucsit, another police official whose name was dragged into the controversy, said he is willing to appear before the Senate on Thursday to clear his name following the accusations by Garcia.

Bucsit, now on floating status at Central Luzon headquarters and support unit, was relieved when Chief Superintendent Rowland Albano was appointed regional commander. Albano himself was subsequently relieved a few months ago at the height of the jueteng controversy.

Former undersecretary for Bicol affairs Mario Espinosa also went to the Senate yesterday to clear his name of the jueteng accusations. — With Christina Mendez