Senate won't invite Mike anymore to helicopter deal hearing

MANILA, Philippines - The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee decided yesterday not to invite former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo anymore to its investigation on the two second-hand helicopters sold to the Philippine National Police (PNP) in 2009.

Blue Ribbon chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III said the Senate accepted the medical findings of Dr. Manuel Chuachiaco Jr., executive director of the Philippine Center, that Arroyo “has indeed a persisting dissecting aneurism” of his aorta.

“The recommendation by the director of the Heart Center is not to pursue it and we would like to respect the recommendation,” Guingona said after the hearing.

Chuachiaco explained during the hearing that Mike Arroyo’s “medical condition will continue to expand and always carry the risk of rupture.”

“It is my opinion that putting him in a situation where we cannot assure that there will be no hypertensive episodes will be putting his life at risk,” he told the committee, citing records forwarded to him by St. Luke’s Medical Center through medical director Dr. Joven Cuanang.

In response to a query by Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, Chuachiaco admitted that he did not personally examine Arroyo and that his findings were only based on the medical records given to him by the patient’s doctors.

“Coming from a well known and highly respected cardiovascular surgeon, I think we will have to accept the recommendation,” Estrada said.

In a previous hearing, the Senate tasked Senate physician Dr. Mariano Blancia Jr. and Dr. Chuachiaco to verify claims by the lawyers of Arroyo that he could not appear before the Senate due to his medical condition.

In a letter sent last Aug. 11 to the Blue Ribbon committee, Arroyo’s lawyer Inocencio Ferrer Jr. cited his client’s medical condition as reason why he cannot attend the inquiry.

Guingona expressed “gratitude” to Arroyo for recognizing the Senate Blue Ribbon’s efforts in its investigation after his camp cited portions of the past Senate hearings on the PNP chopper controversy in the perjury charges he filed against Lion Air and Asian Spirit chairman Archibald Po before the Pasay City Prosecutors’ Office.

Despite his absence at the Senate hearing, Guingona said Arroyo gave credence to the Senate proceedings by citing the transcripts of the hearings in filing the criminal charges against Po.

Po testified that the former presidential spouse actually bought five Robinson R44 Raven I helicopters in 2004 for the presidential campaign and that two of the five were the ones sold as brand new to the PNP about five years later.

Guingona also appealed to Negros Occidental Rep. Iggy Arroyo to appear voluntarily before the Senate to help the senators plug the loopholes in the testimonies of the different resource persons on the issue of ownership of two of the three choppers bought by the PNP.

He said the public cannot accept the Arroyos’ alibis unless they clarify the issue before the Senate.

‘Inquisition’

Yesterday’s resumption of the investigation took another twist after Iggy Arroyo’s bookkeeper, Rowena del Rosario, testified that her former boss rented the two Robinsons helicopters from Lion Air Corp. and that she merely paid monthly billings for its rental.

Senators Guingona, Estrada and Panfilo Lacson moved that del Rosario be cited for contempt after they were convinced that she was lying and trying to protect the Arroyos.

Del Rosario said she worked as bookkeeper of LTA, Inc. for 11 years from 2000 until her resignation on July 22 this year to have more time with her family.

She said she was merely directed by Rep. Arroyo, then LTA president, to handle the monthly payments for Lion Air every time the billing is sent to LTA.

She repeatedly told the Senate she believed that LTA rented the choppers from Lion Air but denied any direct knowledge of the Air Fleet Agreement, copies of which were sourced by some senators from the Pasay City Prosecutors’ Office where a perjury case was filed against Po.

The Senate agreed in a caucus to cite del Rosario for contempt and have her arrested and detained at a detention room located at the basement parking area of the Senate.

However, Ferrer, Mike Arroyo’s lawyer, lashed out at the senators for what he called an “inquisition” in the Senate.

He also appealed to the senators to reconsider their decision to place del Rosario under arrest.

“This is already an inquisition and prosecution of the (Arroyo) family and all those connected to the family. Only the courts can say which is believable and which is not believable,” he said, emphasizing that the role of the Senate is not to prosecute but to make laws.

He scored some of the senators who were bent on portraying the Arroyos as guilty.

Prior to her arrest, senators had found “incredible” and “unbelievable” Del Rosario’s claims that it was Iggy who paid for the bills totaling to about P18 million since 2004, and asked why the payments were not reflected in the LTA’s audited statements for 2004.

Drilon pointed out that LTA’s financial statements for 2004 did not indicate payment of some P9.8 million as down payment for the lease agreement.

Del Rosario, on the other hand, said the payments made to Lion Air were not recorded in the LTA books because the money did not come from LTA funds.

However, she mentioned that the $500,000 sent to Lion Air through telegraphic notes were sourced from LTA funds, leading tofurther conflict in her statements.

Her testimony bolstered the claims of Iggy Arroyo that his brother Mike did not own the Robinsons Raven helicopters as earlier testified by Po during the past Senate hearings.

Lacson said del Rosario’s actuations during the hearing revealed a script to save Mike Arroyo and bring the direction of the inquiry to Rep. Iggy Arroyo.

“That’s the game plan. But in the course of the hearing, we can see it clearly that she was not saying the truth,” he said.

But Ferrer said the senators have been passing judgment on documents that only the courts can do.

Can of worms opened

Meanwhile, former police general Restituto Mosqueda, who was accused of providing jueteng payola (pay offs) to some members of the Arroyo family in 2005, revealed that Iggy Arroyo was not the actual owner of the Jose Pidal accounts.

Lacson called Mosqueda to the Senate in a bid to present Iggy’s pattern in defending his brother.

The congressman, who declared an annual income of merely P11,205 in 1997, covered up for Mike and his wife, then Sen. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, over properties in San Francisco, and the so-called Jose Pidal accounts in 2003.

Mosqueda, who was then director of the PNP Crime Laboratory, claimed he received orders from former Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno to help clear the first gentleman from the controversy.

He said he received a call from Puno and lawyer Antonio Zulueta after Sen. Lacson revealed in a privilege speech on Aug. 18, 2003 the Jose Pidal account and claimed that it was owned by the former first gentleman.

Mosqueda said Zulueta contacted him on the same day and asked for an emergency meeting, saying “that we must do whatever it takes to make it appear that it was not FG’s signature.”

He said Puno also called him for a meeting and “instructed me to make it appear that Iggy owned the Jose Pidal, not first gentleman Mike Arroyo.”

Lacson had claimed that the Jose Pidal account was used by the former first gentleman to launder money and siphon off at least P321 million in campaign funds and contributions.

It was during Mosqueda’s term as director of the PNP Crime Laboratory that the PNP unit issued test results that showed Iggy was the one who signed the Jose Pidal accounts.

Guingona and Lacson agreed that Mosqueda’s statement was relevant to the hearing because it established the gall of Iggy Arroyo to lie before the Senate and the public in protecting his brother and his sister-in-law.

He said he is inclined to give Mosqueda a chance at redeeming himself after years of discernment.

Mosqueda said he was appointed police director of Bicol as prize for his role in protecting the former first gentleman in the Jose Pidal controversy.

But Puno denied Mosqueda’s allegations and stressed that he became DILG secretary in 2006.

Iggy hits back at Ping

In a television interview, Iggy said he was willing to face the inquiry but only if Senator Lacson discloses how he hid for more than a year from arrest on murder charges, and why he is not being investigated for it.

“I will agree to attend the Senate hearing if Ping Lacson, we will call on him and ask him how he managed to disappear for one whole year as a fugitive and he is not being investigated,” Iggy told the ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau.

The younger brother of the former first gentleman is in London for medical treatment for his liver ailment.

His lawyer, Andresito Fornier, said he was not yet sure when his client would be back. – With Paolo Romero