Morato grilled on electioneering

MANILA, Philippines - Former Philippine Charity Sweepstake Office (PCSO) board member Manuel Morato may get himself locked up in jail for violation of election laws in connection with his endorsement of the presidential and senatorial candidates of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.  

At the resumption of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearing on the alleged misuse of funds of the PCSO, Morato was confronted about his use of his “Dial M” TV show to campaign for then Arroyo administration standard-bearer Gilbert Teodoro Jr. and for Team Unity senatorial candidates. Dial M has since been cancelled.

When the issue was first raised against Morato, he claimed he was not paid a talent fee and that it was his co-host Maggie dela Riva who was paid. He said that since he did not receive anything for his appearance in the show, he was free to say anything he wished provided it’s not pornographic or indecent.

But the usually outspoken and even boisterous Morato was left struggling for words and could only manage to smile when Senator Franklin Drilon ordered the showing of a clip from an episode of Dial M where Morato was talking about the candidates of both the Arroyo administration and the Liberal Party (LP).

In the clip, Morato criticized Sen. Francis Escudero for being a publicity hound and described his father Sorsogon Rep. Salvador Escudero III as being a crony of the former dictator, the late President Ferdinand Marcos.

The clip went on to show Morato taking a swipe at Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, the chairman of the Blue Ribbon committee.

Morato called Guingona a liar who does not deserve his vote.

He went on to call the candidates of the LP conceited and uneducated before urging his viewers to consider voting for the administration’s candidates led by Teodoro.

Drilon noted that Morato and his co-host were both sporting campaign buttons and ribbons of Teodoro during the show.

“You were campaigning. You had the ribbon of Gibo (Teodoro), so did Maggie dela Riva. If you do not call that campaigning, I don’t know what else it is and yet you were part of the board that approved P5 million for IBC-13 from PCSO funds to replay this Dial M,” Drilon said.

Drilon was referring to board resolution 2106 series of 2009 approved by the previous PCSO board of which Morato was a member. The resolution provided P5 million in funds for the cash-strapped IBC-13 for two of its programs.

A condition stipulated in the resolution was that IBC-13 would air the replays of Dial M as well as other shows that PCSO may run.

“I do not know what got into your head, just to disregard all election laws. This is punishable by imprisonment of not less than one year to not more than six years,” Drilon said.

“In disregard of all these laws, you campaigned for the candidates of the administration. This is the kind of abuse of the funds of the charity sweepstakes which we now seek to stop,” he added.

Morato admitted that he committed a mistake when he signed the board resolution but added that it would still have been approved without his support because majority of the board members signed it anyway.

Seeing that Morato could get himself into more legal troubles with his statements, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile asked him if he wanted to invoke his right to remain silent to avoid incriminating himself.

“Yes your honor, I invoke my right against self-incrimination,” Morato responded.

This prompted Drilon to say in jest that “it is most difficult for Mr. Morato to remain silent” because “it’s one of the most difficult qualities that Mr. Morato has.”

In the end, Morato apologized to Guingona.

Morato’s excuse was that Dial M was a comedy show and that he was at times, a comedian.

“I would like to ask for your forgiveness for what I said in that comedy show. It was a comedy show, Dial M by the way, so would you please kindly extend my forgiveness from Senator Escudero as well,” Morato said.

Drilon reminded Morato that being a comedian does not exempt him from the provisions of the election code.

“As long as I have been forgiven, it’s alright with me,” Morato said.

Guingona said that he did not take the comments of Morato personally and that he accepted his apology.