PNP expert says 'pressured' on Jose Pidal findings

MANILA, Philippines - A questioned documents' expert of the Philippine National Police (PNP) today admitted that "pressure" forced her to release an examination result that shows the Jose Pidal signatures were similar with the signatures provided by Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio "Iggy" Arroyo in 2003.

Dr. Mely Sorra, chief of the PNP-Crime Laboratory's Questioned Documents Division, said in the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing that the presence of former police chief superintendent Restituto Mosqueda forced her to release a result favorable to the claim of Iggy Arroyo.

"The pressure came from General Mosqueda, who was always in our office throughout the examination until we created a report [on the Jose Pidal signatures' examination]," Sorra told the senators.

She said, however, that even with the pressure coming from Mosqueda, she tried to protect the integrity of the Questioned Documents Division by issuing an "inconclusive" report.

"Based on my findings, there is an 'indication' that that Jose Pidal and the standard (specimen) signature were written by one and the same person. But my findings is not conclusive, only an indication," she said.

Sorra said that the result of the examination was based on the specimen submitted by the camp of Iggy Arroyo to the PNP-Crime Laboratory. She said that three signature samples were written on a plain bond paper and she compared it to a photocopied signature of Jose Pidal.

She admitted during the hearing that the submission of the specimen signatures and the photocopied Jose Pidal signatures was irregular.

She said that if not for the pressure coming from Mosqueda, she would not have examined the signatures as it was against standard procedure. She said that based on standard procedure, an original document bearing the questioned signature should have been given to her office for comparison to Iggy Arroyo's specimen signature.

Sorra also said that she would have concluded that the signatures' similarities were doubtful under "normal circumstances."

During the hearing, Sen. Sergio Osmeña presented a check from the BPI Family Savings Bank in Makati, which bears the signature of Jose Pidal.

"Sa akin akin lang, napakalayo po ng signature ng original Jose Pidal na na-lift namin sa check ng BPI Famly bank at kay Iggy Arroyo," the senator said.

Mosqueda had said in his affidavit that he was ordered by former Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno to help clear former first gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo from the Jose Pidal controversy in 2003.

The former police official said that the Arroyo brothers had repeatedly thanked him and offered him rewards for the deed, but he allegedly declined the offers.

Lacson, who asked the committee to invite Mosqueda and Sorra to the hearings, exposed the Jose Pidal accounts in August 2003 and alleged that it was used by Mike Arroyo to launder money and siphon off P321 million in campaign donations for the Sen. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's vice presidential run in 1998.

The Jose Pidal issue was brought up during last week’s hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee.

During today’s hearing, committee chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III explained that the Jose Pidal issue is being brought up in the hearing, which was supposedly about the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) purchase of helicopters in 2009, to show that Iggy Arroyo’s tendency to save his older brother whenever he is in trouble.

“Senators want to show that there is a pattern: every time Mike Arroyo is in trouble, Iggy Arroyo takes the fall for him… This happened in the Jose Pidal scandal and now with the helicopters scandal, several witnesses are pointing to Mike Arroyo as the owners of the helicopters, Iggy Arroyo enters the picture,” Guingona said.

Iggy Arroyo had claimed that the two pre-owned helicopters, which were sold to the PNP as brand new, was leased by the family-owned company, LTA Inc., from Archibald Po’s Lionair Inc.

Po had recently told the Senate that Mike Arroyo owned the helicopters and that the former first gentleman ordered the PNP to buy the units.

As the PNP helicopters scandal resumes, Iggy Arroyo’s bookkeeper, Rowena del Rosario was shown the Jose Pidal signature and asked to compare it with Mike Arroyo’s signature.

Del Rosario, who has been cited for contempt and ordered arrested by the Senate, said she could not recognize the signatures.

Del Rosario also told the Senate that Mike Arroyo uses a different signature in documents from the LTA, Inc.

The senators are convinced that Del Rosario had been lying under oath and was trying to cover up for the Arroyos.