Mike A files raps vs trader

MANILA, Philippines - Former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo filed yesterday perjury charges against businessman Archibald Po, who accused him of pressuring the Philippine National Police (PNP) to buy his secondhand helicopters at brand new prices.

Lawyer Inocencio Ferrer accompanied Arroyo when he filed his complaint at the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office at around 2:50 p.m.

Po, president of LionAir, testified before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee that Arroyo was the real owner of two Raven

helicopters sold to the PNP in 2009.

The choppers were bought in 2004 and used in the electoral campaign of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Documents, however, showed that LionAir owned the helicopters before they were sold to the PNP.

“Mr. Arroyo filed a complaint-affidavit for 3 charges, namely perjury, false testimony, and offering false testimony in evidence, as penalized under Articles 183 and 184 of the Revised Penal Code, for swearing to his perjurious affidavit before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, giving false testimony before the same, and offering both affidavit and testimony as evidence, all committed on Aug. 2, 2011 in Pasay City,” Ferrer said.

He said Arroyo did not want to be interviewed because he was feeling weak due to his present medical condition and that he was worried over the condition of his wife, who underwent emergency surgery to correct her spine yesterday.

Arroyo earlier said the allegations “are premised on unsupported testimonies of Mr. Archibald Po who is clearly trying to escape criminal liability for defrauding the government.”

“It is strange why certain persons in authority are now so eager to promote and to entertain such obvious nonsense,” he said.

“It is now obvious to all of us that the authorities in power have placed the highest priority in a coordinated effort, whatever it takes, to harass the previous administration for imagined transgressions,” Arroyo said.

Meanwhile, senators are not optimistic that Arroyo would attend today’s Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearing on the anomalous purchase of the used helicopters by the PNP in 2009.

Senators Gregorio Honasan, Panfilo Lacson, Sergio Osmeña, Frank Drilon and Teofisto Guingona III are doubtful that Arroyo would attend.

The senators suspect that Arroyo can easily use the condition of his wife as an excuse to skip the hearing.

Blue Ribbon chairman Guingona and Drilon were careful about making any statement, saying that their actions would depend on the events that will transpire today.

Lacson, who is presenting two new witnesses to support claims that Arroyo owned the two helicopters sold to the PNP, said the former first gentleman cannot use as an alibi that he needs to be by his wife’s bedside.

Lacson revealed that Arroyo’s bookkeeper, Rowena del Rosario, was among the midnight appointees of Rep. Arroyo.

The Senate has invited Del Rosario to attend the hearing after Po testified that he personally delivered $700,000 to Arroyo sometime April 2010.

The amount was payment of the helicopters sold to the PNP. Del Rosario allegedly witnessed the turnover of payment at Arroyo’s LTA office in Perea Street in Makati City.

Among the resource persons invited by the Senate in today’s hearing include Jaime Santos, resident auditor of PNP; Jaime Serrano, former PNP resident auditor; Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo; Conrado Sumanga Jr. who is staff service chief of the National Police Commission’s installations and logistics service; PNP officials led by chief Director General Raul Bacalzo and former PNP chief Gen. Jesus Verzosa. With Christina Mendez