Chavit: I’ve no hand in ambush

VIGAN CITY, Ilocos Sur — Former Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson vehemently denied having a hand in the Oct. 4 ambush-slaying of provincial auditor Agustin Chan Jr. and his driver.

Singson, in an interview with Bombo Radyo that was hooked up regionwide Wednesday night, instead put the blame for the killing on the camp of deposed President Joseph Estrada.

"Si Mr. Estrada ang makikinabang sa pangyayaring ito (It’s Mr. Estrada who will benefit from this incident)," Singson said.

Earlier, he said the killing of Chan and his driver, Alex Regacho, in Bantay town would not benefit him but that the blame would be put on him.

"I am not a fool. If the reported fund anomalies were true, why would I resort to killing him?" he asked.

"I should have ‘fixed’ him (instead)," he said, implying that he could have offered Chan sums of money to silence him.

Singson’s critics here have insinuated that Chan and his driver were slain after the auditor allegedly discovered that some disbursements by the provincial government, some of them during Singson’s term, have remained unliquidated.

Chan reportedly demanded that the questioned expenditures be liquidated.

Singson denied any fund discrepancies during his term, saying he had never been charged of any anomaly in his 26-year administration of the province.

Asked about his reported unliquidated disbursements amounting to P124 million, the former governor said the money was deposited at the National Tobacco Administration for assistance to Virginia tobacco-growing farmers.

Ilocos Sur and other provinces in the region which produce Virginia tobacco are the supposed beneficiaries of the fund.

Singson said Chan’s death would not obliterate records of any fund anomaly.

"You cannot change the records. They will always be there and even if the auditor dies, another auditor will take over," he said.

Speaking in Ilocano, Singson told his listeners to look at all possible angles in the ambush-killing, and asked authorities to speed up the investigation.