MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Panfilo Lacson linked yesterday a resident of Polk street in Greenhills, San Juan to the disappearance of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. employee Edgar Bentain in 1999.
Lacson made the revelation in his second privilege speech aimed at exposing the “bad side” of former president Joseph Estrada.
The Estrada family lives on Polk Street in the posh Greenhills village in San Juan.
“Sometime in the middle of January 1999, one day after Edgar Bentain was abducted somewhere on Roxas Blvd. and killed somewhere in Laguna, a police officer, still active at that time, went to Polk St. in Greenhills and reported compliance with a mission,” Lacson said.
He said the house occupant replied “Sige, sabihin mo sa mga bata, maraming salamat (Okay, tell the boys, thanks).” Lacson did not provide other details like how he got the information or who was the Polk St. resident.
“This will bring me to another curious case – the disappearance of Mr. Edgar Bentain, the video operator of Pagcor who came out with a footage of then candidate Vice President Estrada gambling in the casino,” Lacson said.
“This much I can share, in the meantime, to our distinguished colleagues, the family of Mr. Bentain and the Filipino people,” he said.
“I did not identify the criminal simply because I did not have any participation or direct personal knowledge of these criminal activities while they were taking place years ago,” Lacson said.
“My investigation is ongoing even as I speak today. But I have gathered enough facts and data to provide the useful leads to unmask the mastermind’s true identity and his active participation, including other persons who were barely mentioned in the conduct of investigation,” Lacson added.
Disappointed
The Bentain family left the Senate disappointed after Lacson’s speech.
“Why did he not elaborate?” asked Bentain’s brother Eddie.
“If he has something to say about the case, he has to say it now,” Eddie told reporters in Filipino. “He was talking about justice for our family. But based on what he heard from him, what justice was he talking about?”
Another Bentain brother, Edcel, also voiced disappointment, saying he has long been urging Lacson to unravel the truth behind Edgar’s disappearance.
“That has been 10 years ago. Ten years and eight months. At that time, he was PNP chief and I’m challenging him. Now is his chance,” Edcel said.
Edcel said the only new information they got from Lacson was that his brother’s remains were thrown somewhere in Laguna and not in Cavite as they had thought.
“It seems that he gave us a runaround. I thought he could shed some light, but he disappointed us more,” Edcel said.
The family lamented that their brother’s case is being used by Lacson to get political leverage or as an excuse to divert attention from his alleged links to the Dacer-Corbito double murder case.
The Bentain brothers believe Estrada and his friend, Charlie “Atong” Ang – who was also shown on the video – may have had a hand in the disappearance.
“We are disappointed,” Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) chairman Dante Jimenez, said.
Closure
Edcel said they went to the Senate yesterday hoping to get a breakthrough or possibly a closure on Edgar’s disappearance.
With Edcel and Eddie was Edgar’s 13-year-old son Noel.
“We want to hear what Sen. (Panfilo) Lacson will say about my brother. He is instrumental because he was part of the (Estrada) administration which we believe had a hand in the disappearance of my brother,” Edcel told reporters.
“We will know from him what really happened to Edgar. What happened, what they did to Edgar, where they buried him and who were those involved,” said Edcel.
Noel was holding in his hand a photograph of his father.
Noel said he was barely three years old when his dad disappeared. “I barely knew him,” Noel said in Filipino when asked of his last memory of his father. “I am the eldest. My sibling was still in the womb when (my father) was snatched,” the boy said.
Edcel said he made his own investigation into his brother’s disappearance, but felt he needed to hear Lacson’s revelations.
“We are not able to file any criminal case. That’s how good they were,” Edcel said.
Edgar was believed to have been the source of controversial video footage taken on Sept. 15, 1996 at the VIP pit of the Heritage Hotel casino. The video showed Estrada playing high-stakes baccarat with his friends Ang and Butch Tenorio, who was the casino’s general manager at the time.
Manuel Morato, former chairman of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), made the video public and identified Edgar as its source.
Morato released the video footage before the May 1998 elections in an effort to discredit Estrada, who was topping surveys.
What conspiracy?
Former Batangas Gov. Armando Sanchez denied allegations that he was conspiring with Nacionalista Party president Sen. Manny Villar in fabricating testimonies for a witness to pin down Lacson in the Dacer-Corbito case.
In a statement through his lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, Sanchez said Lacson’s allegation was “highly irresponsible, absolutely lacking in factual foundation, and totally disingenuous.”
“Having been a victim of assassination myself, I cannot for the life of me participate in the muddling of a murder investigation,” he said.
“The existence of an alleged cabal against Sen. Lacson, supposedly composed of members of the Nacionalista Party, is merely a figment of Sen. Lacson’s criminalistic imagination that sees conspiracy where there is none,” he added.
Malacañang hand
In his speech, Lacson accused Malacañang of having a hand in efforts to link him to the Dacer-Corbito case.
“In the midst of all these events was the unexpected relief of the erstwhile Secretary of the Department of Justice, the very talkative Raul Gonzalez. My Malacañang sources informed me that the Palace was not happy with the way the irrepressible Gonzalez telegraphed through the media (the developments in the case),” Lacson said.
Lacson again accused former Presidential Security Group head, now ISAFP Chief Romeo Prestoza, of trying to make Dacer-Corbito suspect Cezar Mancao implicate him.
“My other set of Malacañang informants also told me that Raul Gonzalez tried to convince his President to extend his stint as DOJ Secretary by at least two months by telling PGMA that he intended to resolve the case against me in 60 days, to which Mrs Arroyo retorted in her usual taray fashion, ‘Eh, yun na nga eh (That’s it precisely)!’,” Lacson said.
Supporting accused
In his speech, Lacson admitted that he has been financially supporting his former men – suspects in the case – and their families since 2001.
He said some of the funds he used were contributions from some of his Chinese-Filipino friends whom he helped rescue from kidnappers.
He said he felt he had to financially support the suspects because they were his men.
Jinggoy’s ‘betrayal’
Lacson, in his speech, even accused Sen. Jinggoy Estrada of “betraying” his own father and half-brother.
In his second exposé, Lacson bared details of an alleged tapped phone conversation between two males, presumably Jinggoy and Charlie “Atong” Ang, who was extradited from the United States to become witness against President Estrada in connection with the plunder charges before the Sandiganbayan against the former president.
He quoted excerpts from a telephone conversation that transpired between two males, both in the United States at that time, one in Los Angeles, California; the other, in Las Vegas, Nevada. He did not name the two males but they were apparently Jinggoy and and Atong Ang.
Voice Number 1: Pare, ano ba plano mo pag-uwi mo (What’s your plan when you return home)?
Voice Nr 2: Pare, ‘di ko alam eh (I don’t know).
Voice Nr 1: Pare, kung uuwi ka... kung ano man ang plano mo, huwag mo na kaming idamay ni mommy; si daddy na lang.... kaya niya namang i-depensa ang sarili niya... May ambisyon pa ako. Magpre-presidente pa ako... ako ang bahala sa ‘yo (If you’re going home please don’t implicate me and mommy. Daddy can take care of himself. I still have ambitions. I want to be president. I’ll take care of you).
Voice Nr 2: Bahala na. Di ko alam pag-uwi ko (Whatever. I don’t know). – With Edu Punay, Sandy Araneta