Witness files raps versus Iggy, Mikey

Confessed jueteng bagwoman Sandra Cam filed yesterday with the Ombudsman criminal charges against presidential son Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo, presidential brother-in-law Ignacio "Iggy" Arroyo and a retired police general for allegedly coddling jueteng operators in the Bicol Region.

Cam’s lawyer, former solicitor general Francisco Chavez, said they decided not to file either graft or bribery charges against the two congressmen and former Bicol Region police director Chief Superintendent Restituto Mosqueda "because no public funds were involved."

"These are the fruits of the jueteng controversy. The money they received was derived from bettors," Chavez told reporters, as the charges were filed with the Office of the Ombudsman for violations of Republic Act 9287, the law penalizing public officials involved in illegal gambling.

In a nine-page complaint that Cam swore to before acting Assistant Ombudsman Evelyn Baliton, the bagwoman said that under the law, the respondents are "protectors or coddlers because they receive benefits from the operation of jueteng."

Cam testified before the Senate committee on games and amusement investigating the jueteng controversy that she delivered, in two separate instances, jueteng protection money to Mikey, a Pampanga congressman, and his uncle Iggy, who represents Negros Occidental.

She admitted being the bagwoman of Mosqueda, who retired a few months ago. She narrated she personally gave P500,000 to Mikey and P400,000 to Iggy (in cash) in December 2004 at the House of Representatives.

The Arroyos and Mosqueda have since denied the allegations, however. The young Arroyo has filed an indefinite leave of absence, which will take effect "until my name is cleared of any taint from the jueteng issue."

"I have made this decision on my own volition, to dispel any misimpression that I may use my office to influence the investigation of the allegations aired during the Senate probe on jueteng," Arroyo said in a statement.

Meantime, Cam disclosed that gambling lords in the Bicol Region have regularly deposited protection money meant for Mosqueda through her Metrobank accounts in Batangas and Calapan, Mindoro, under the name of her school World Link Training Services Inc.

"The money that I withdrew from my accounts with Metrobank are all given to General Mosqueda in cash either in Bicol or in McDonald’s Tagaytay every week. This set up was maintained until March 2005," she revealed.

A lawyer for Mikey Arroyo welcomed the filing of the charges against her client, saying it was "a refreshing change from Cam’s earlier hurling of unsubstantiated charges against the Arroyos in the media and in the Senate jueteng hearings.

"It is a refreshing change that Miss Cam has chosen this time to make her accusation in a legal forum. She has apparently been heartened by the caliber of her esteemed counse, but she will soon find out that the rules of court and the evidence are powerful tools that will strip away the layer upon layer of lies that she has made versus my client," lawyer Grace Maduramente said in a statement.

She said she would carefully review Cam’s submissions to the Ombudsman to check for inconsistencies in her account of having provided jueteng payola to the Arroyos, "which has varied on several crucial points depending on the venue of her performance."

"She has changed her story so many times, there have been so many glaring inconsistencies between what she said in the media and what she told the Senate hearings, that we will not be surprised if again she has provided a new version to the Ombudsman," Maduramente added.

Meanwhile, in a statement released yesterday, House Majority Leader Prospero Nograles said the charges Cam filed before the Ombudsman will only expose her duplicity.

"Muss Cam has now compounded her error by straying into the legal arena which is the proper forum for her false and malicious accusations to be examined and debunked," the Davao City congressman said.

He said that soon Cam will be revealed to be a "willing tool for a mudslinging campaign against the administration."

In a legal environment, Nograles said, "hearsay and unproven allegations as well as (Cam’s) dubious character will lead to her downfall."