Iggy files P11-M libel suit vs Cam

BACOLOD CITY — Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio "Iggy" Arroyo Jr. filed an P11-million libel case yesterday against self-confessed jueteng bagwoman Sandra Cam before the office of the provincial prosecutor here.

President Arroyo’s brother-in-law claimed Cam’s accusations linking him to jueteng operations in the country caused him, his wife and family to suffer "social humiliation, sleepless nights, mental anxiety and a tarnished reputation."

Arroyo was accompanied by his lawyer, Antonio Zulueta, and five mayors from his district when he filed his complaint, which was received by assistant prosecutor Elmira Maglasang.

He is seeking P5 million each for moral and exemplary damages and P1 million to cover his attorney’s fees.

In a statement he later sent to the House of Representatives media office, Arroyo said he would donate the P10 million to his constituents if he wins the case.

He accused Cam of "bad faith, evident premeditation with deliberate intent to besmirch my good name and reputation" in claiming in an interview with anchor Karen Davila aired over ABS-CBN television network’s "TV Patrol World" that he was involved in the illegal numbers game and that he was the recipient of jueteng money from retired Chief Superintendent Restituto Mosqueda, the former Bicol Region police director.

Arroyo noted that a lengthier version of the interview was also aired over ANC. He added that Cam reiterated her allegations before the Senate committee hearing last June 9, one day after the interview was aired.

Cam had testified that in December 2004, she delivered P400,000 and P500,000 to Iggy Arroyo and his nephew, Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo, respectively, at the Batasan complex in Quezon City.

The elder Arroyo said Cam’s television interview is not covered by the immunity cloaking her Senate testimony.

Arroyo said the claims made by Cam in the television interview and before the Senate are "purely and wholly baseless, false and malicious."

"I do not know (the) respondent nor have I met or seen her. I never received any illegal jueteng money from Gen. Mosqueda personally or through the respondent," he said, adding that "there has never been any agreement, implicit or otherwise, between me and Gen. Mosqueda on ‘jueteng payola.’"

Arroyo said Cam was prompted by ill will and ulterior motive in making the "defamatory statements" that "tend to cause disgrace, discredit and dishonor upon me and put me in public pillory as I am pictured as receiving illegal ‘jueteng money.’"

Arroyo went to his district after filing the case, saying he wanted to discuss with his constituents the allegations being hurled against him and other members of the First Family.

As to whether he would follow the lead taken by his congressman nephew, who offered to take an indefinite leave of absence from the House while the investigation was ongoing, Arroyo said he was still consulting with his constituents.

Mayors Caroll Guanco of Hinigaran, Renato Malabor of Isabela, Enrico Elumba of La Castellana, Jose Garcia of Moises Padilla and Carminia Bascon of Himamaylan accompanied the embattled congressman to the Hall of Justice in this city.

In a joint statement, the mayors expressed their full support for Arroyo and the President and deplored calls for the congressman to resign.

"He has the mandate of the people of the fifth district, whom he has served well as their representative and voice in Congress," they said.

The mayors said they can vouch for Arroyo’s integrity and morality, and denounced Cam’s allegations as baseless, peddled lies.

"These unfounded allegations are obviously designed to tarnish the image of... Arroyo as part of a much bigger plot to destabilize the national leadership," they said.

In a related development, Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. accepted yesterday Mikey Arroyo’s offer to go on leave in the wake of the jueteng-related accusations against him.

In a statement from Paris, France, De Venecia described the young Arroyo’s offer as an "act of sacrifice and nobility."

Other colleagues also lauded the presidential son’s gesture.

"We commend Rep. Arroyo for his decisive move to go on voluntary leave. He has acted with honor and dignity to clean his name," said Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III.

Another Isabela congressman, Anthony Miranda, who is a close friend of Mikey Arroyo, said he "has shown delicadeza and sensitivity."

Last Friday, Mikey Arroyo also filed a libel suit against Cam, seeking at least P5 million in damages.

Meanwhile, an anti-crime group has cleared the two Arroyos of any links to jueteng operations in the Bicol region.

Carlos Batalla, chairman of the Citizen’s Crime Watch (CCW) in Region V, told reporters that the names "Mikey" and "Iggy" were never mentioned in reports submitted to him by his municipal chairmen and intelligence operatives.

However, despite clearing the names of the two Arroyos, Batalla confirmed the allegations made by whistle-blowers that some government and police officials were "on the take," according to reports by CCW’s field officers.

"In the interest of objectivity and fair play, there is definitely no truth to allegations that Mikey Arroyo, his uncle Iggy, and even former presidential assistant for Bicol affairs Mario Espinosa had received payola from Bicol jueteng operators," the CCW said in a statement.

CCW national chairman Jose Malvar Villegas confirmed Batalla’s report, saying "there is no iota of evidence presented by Senate jueteng witness Wilfredo Mayor and other witnesses linking some members of the First Family and a relative to the jueteng scandal in Bicol."

Batalla branded as "malicious and false" Mayor’s allegations that First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo received jueteng money through Espinosa.

Batalla, however, emphasized he is not defending the First Family but only seeks the truth. He is a member of an opposition group in Bicol, a political ally of former Speaker Noli Fuentebella and a local leader of the Nationalist People’s Coalition headed by businessman Eduardo Cojuangco.

Noel de Luna, publisher of local magazine Bicol Bloc, said he was once a recipient of jueteng money for the local media in Bicol.

He said he and his colleagues rejected the monthly payola when, due to the intensified drive against jueteng in the region, the amounts were reduced to a minimum of P5,000 per month for every newsman.

"The payola became too small. It was insulting," he said in Filipino.

De Luna denied allegations by purported whistle-blowers that millions of pesos were being collected weekly from jueteng operations in Bicol, saying that jueteng lords had long ago resorted to guerrilla tactics to evade law enforcers. — With Nestor Etolle