While my sympathy will always remain with the soldiers in Manila Peninsula, I was not made part of their plan today so there is nothing much I can say except to pray that the crisis end up peacefully whichever way it is resolved. The issues are valid to say the least, but questions will surely be raised on the method employed
o0o
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Ping Meets Siena College Students at Senate
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Malacañang Has Itself to Blame on World Bank Mess
Senator Panfilo M. Lacson today said Malacañang has only itself to blame when creditors like the World Bank deny loans for government projects due to widespread corruption.
“We will not be able to solve the problem if we won’t admit what the problem is, which is pervasive corruption in this administration,” Lacson said.
He was reacting to reports about Malacañang and the Department of Public Works and Highways blaming internal politics in the World Bank for the cancellation of the $265-million loan for the government’s infrastructure projects.
The World Bank, however, claimed it cancelled the loan since the projects were tainted with graft and collusion among bidders.
“Malacañang cannot simply point an accusing finger at others when in fact, it is this administration that has spawned the country’s biggest problems brought about by corruption,” Lacson said.
The administration further tossed the blame on the World Bank, saying it was the bank’s procedures that prevailed upon the bidding and procurement for the intended projects.
In the first place, Lacson said, the government should not have agreed to World Bank conditions that their own regulations be used in the procurement since the country has its own procurement laws under Republic Act 9184.
“There’s another big problem here. We have our own procurement laws, why do we agree to their conditions even if they are the ones lending money? Why do we agree to violate our own laws just so to obtain loans?” he added.
As an example, Lacson cited the graft and corrupt practices that tainted the World Bank’s grant for the procurement of textbooks for public elementary and high school students under the Department of Education.
The ongoing billion-dollar grant was likewise tarnished by allegations of collusion among bidders and grease money going into pockets of ranking government officials.
Lacson lamented that this incident has further damaged the country’s image and credibility and credit standing to future creditors.
“It is about time that Malacañang refrain from blaming other institutions and instead look at their own policies and actuations,” he said.
o0o
“We will not be able to solve the problem if we won’t admit what the problem is, which is pervasive corruption in this administration,” Lacson said.
He was reacting to reports about Malacañang and the Department of Public Works and Highways blaming internal politics in the World Bank for the cancellation of the $265-million loan for the government’s infrastructure projects.
The World Bank, however, claimed it cancelled the loan since the projects were tainted with graft and collusion among bidders.
“Malacañang cannot simply point an accusing finger at others when in fact, it is this administration that has spawned the country’s biggest problems brought about by corruption,” Lacson said.
The administration further tossed the blame on the World Bank, saying it was the bank’s procedures that prevailed upon the bidding and procurement for the intended projects.
In the first place, Lacson said, the government should not have agreed to World Bank conditions that their own regulations be used in the procurement since the country has its own procurement laws under Republic Act 9184.
“There’s another big problem here. We have our own procurement laws, why do we agree to their conditions even if they are the ones lending money? Why do we agree to violate our own laws just so to obtain loans?” he added.
As an example, Lacson cited the graft and corrupt practices that tainted the World Bank’s grant for the procurement of textbooks for public elementary and high school students under the Department of Education.
The ongoing billion-dollar grant was likewise tarnished by allegations of collusion among bidders and grease money going into pockets of ranking government officials.
Lacson lamented that this incident has further damaged the country’s image and credibility and credit standing to future creditors.
“It is about time that Malacañang refrain from blaming other institutions and instead look at their own policies and actuations,” he said.
o0o
Monday, November 12, 2007
Lacson Graces "SiS" as Surprise Birthday Guest
Lacson Bats for Commensurate Authority for PNP Chief
In the wake of reports that Philippine National Police funds are being diverted to bribe potential Palace allies, Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson pushed Tuesday for “commensurate authority” for the chief of the PNP to prevent such irregularities from happening.
Lacson, a former PNP chief, lamented the Chief PNP is presently powerless in transferring and appointing officers to various posts within the police force, with the interior secretary calling the shots instead.
“I dare the PNP to deny this, that the CPNP has no power to designate PNP officers to various positions. Instead, it is the secretary of the Interior Department who has the power. I dare them to deny that,” Lacson said.
With the interior secretary – in this case the concurrent chairman of President Arroyo’s Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) party – calling the shots, Lacson said it is not far-fetched to have the secretary handle the PNP’s funds as well.
“What we have is an interior secretary who happens to be the chairman of the president’s party. We cannot help but suspect that the president’s allies will, through the secretary, have a say in having certain protégé policemen assigned to sensitive positions,,” he said.
Earlier, Lacson cited information reaching him indicating that at least P160 million of the PNP’s counterinsurgency funds were diverted to “cash gifts” for some Palace allies in the Lower House.
He said this is why it is imperative that Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno testify at the Senate hearings on the alleged “Bribery in the Palace” scandal.
On the other hand, Lacson said Puno as interior secretary during the time of former President Joseph Estrada could not get hold of the PNP funds because he requested Mr. Estrada to give him the commensurate authority to handle the funds.
“I asked for full authority during my time. That is not the case now. What we should do is give the PNP chief commensurate authority for the big responsibility he faces. Otherwise, how do you discipline protégés who commit abuses?” he said.
o0o
Lacson, a former PNP chief, lamented the Chief PNP is presently powerless in transferring and appointing officers to various posts within the police force, with the interior secretary calling the shots instead.
“I dare the PNP to deny this, that the CPNP has no power to designate PNP officers to various positions. Instead, it is the secretary of the Interior Department who has the power. I dare them to deny that,” Lacson said.
With the interior secretary – in this case the concurrent chairman of President Arroyo’s Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) party – calling the shots, Lacson said it is not far-fetched to have the secretary handle the PNP’s funds as well.
“What we have is an interior secretary who happens to be the chairman of the president’s party. We cannot help but suspect that the president’s allies will, through the secretary, have a say in having certain protégé policemen assigned to sensitive positions,,” he said.
Earlier, Lacson cited information reaching him indicating that at least P160 million of the PNP’s counterinsurgency funds were diverted to “cash gifts” for some Palace allies in the Lower House.
He said this is why it is imperative that Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno testify at the Senate hearings on the alleged “Bribery in the Palace” scandal.
On the other hand, Lacson said Puno as interior secretary during the time of former President Joseph Estrada could not get hold of the PNP funds because he requested Mr. Estrada to give him the commensurate authority to handle the funds.
“I asked for full authority during my time. That is not the case now. What we should do is give the PNP chief commensurate authority for the big responsibility he faces. Otherwise, how do you discipline protégés who commit abuses?” he said.
o0o
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Lacson to GMA: Start Fighting Kotong in Your Own Backyard
If you want to seriously fight extortion, start in your own backyard.
This was the “unsolicited” advice of Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson Friday to Mrs. Arroyo, a day after she created a task force against “kotong” (extortion) and colorum vehicles upon the request of the transport sector.
“I am tempted to give this piece of unsolicited advice: Start with kotong right inside Malacañang or you will get nowhere in this new effort,” said Lacson, who made stopping extortion a priority when he headed the Philippine National Police from 1999 to 2001.
Lacson said that while Mrs. Arroyo “hit the nail right on the head” by initiating a parallel effort against extortion and colorums, such efforts will not go beyond lip service if she does not set the example for her subordinates.
During his tour of duty in the PNP, Lacson pointed out he always lived by the “no-take” policy that he made sure to strictly observe. As a result, he said his subordinates would follow his lead and refuse to accept bribes, much less extort money from motorists and public utility drivers.
As such, Lacson said Mrs. Arroyo should not expect her subordinates to follow her orders, especially if they “see” bigger amounts changing hands right inside Malacañang.
He noted Malacañang has repeatedly refused to clear the air on suspicions of extortion and transactional politics involving the giving of cash gifts to some lawmakers and local government executives, as well as supposed bribery in the $329.5-million national broadband network deal with ZTE Corp. of China.
“There is no substitute for leadership by example. How can you expect your subalterns or subordinates to follow what you say if they see you do not practice what you preach?” he said.
Lacson also said Mrs. Arroyo should start thinking of a positive legacy to leave behind when she leaves the presidency in 2010.
“She has less than three years to go. I for one would like to see her leave behind a good legacy, a legacy of honor and not a legacy of corruption,” he said.
o0o
This was the “unsolicited” advice of Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson Friday to Mrs. Arroyo, a day after she created a task force against “kotong” (extortion) and colorum vehicles upon the request of the transport sector.
“I am tempted to give this piece of unsolicited advice: Start with kotong right inside Malacañang or you will get nowhere in this new effort,” said Lacson, who made stopping extortion a priority when he headed the Philippine National Police from 1999 to 2001.
Lacson said that while Mrs. Arroyo “hit the nail right on the head” by initiating a parallel effort against extortion and colorums, such efforts will not go beyond lip service if she does not set the example for her subordinates.
During his tour of duty in the PNP, Lacson pointed out he always lived by the “no-take” policy that he made sure to strictly observe. As a result, he said his subordinates would follow his lead and refuse to accept bribes, much less extort money from motorists and public utility drivers.
As such, Lacson said Mrs. Arroyo should not expect her subordinates to follow her orders, especially if they “see” bigger amounts changing hands right inside Malacañang.
He noted Malacañang has repeatedly refused to clear the air on suspicions of extortion and transactional politics involving the giving of cash gifts to some lawmakers and local government executives, as well as supposed bribery in the $329.5-million national broadband network deal with ZTE Corp. of China.
“There is no substitute for leadership by example. How can you expect your subalterns or subordinates to follow what you say if they see you do not practice what you preach?” he said.
Lacson also said Mrs. Arroyo should start thinking of a positive legacy to leave behind when she leaves the presidency in 2010.
“She has less than three years to go. I for one would like to see her leave behind a good legacy, a legacy of honor and not a legacy of corruption,” he said.
o0o
Where Honor Has Become Alien
(Speech by Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson before the Rotary Club of Quezon City delivered November 8, 2007 at the Club Filipino, San Juan City)
I speak to you tonight in what can best be described as living in the worst of times, which collectively we can make the best of times.
We are incessantly told, through media and public pronouncements, that the economy is on a roll. The proof, we are told, is that the peso is at a seven-year high compared to the weakening American dollar.
The proof, we are told, is that the stock market is booming, where even worthless paper sells for ten times its book value.
But why do we not hear applause from the man on the street?
Why is the small and medium-term businessman caught in a bind, between ever-increasing costs and dwindling sales? Go to every mall, go to Divisoria or any palengke for that matter, and look around. Every shopkeeper will tell you “saksakan ng tumal ang benta.”
Go to the houses of ordinary people, and look at the food on their table. Many have stopped cooking fresh meals in their houses, because the cost of fuel and power has gone way too high that it has become cheaper to buy cooked viands from the neighborhood carinderia. That should mean the underground economy is at least thriving, but go ask the carinderia owner, and she will tell you that their suki have stopped buying several viands, and buy only one, either fried fish or gulay.
Go to the houses of the urban poor slumped in small hovels where the rats have started to gnaw, not at their measly possessions, but at their infants, and see that they have been subsisting on rice and instant noodles almost every day of their miserable lives.
A group of foreign observers from the European Union were in tears two days ago when they visited our poor brethren who live by the banks of the esteros and even underneath the bridges of “prosperous” Metro Manila.
And probably the most tragic of all, 12-year-old Marianeth Amper of Davao hanged herself and left a diary detailing her frustration and depression brought about by extreme poverty that besets her family.
Even our OFW’s, regaled as our “bagong bayani”, complain that they have lost more than 20% of their purchasing power compared to a scant year ago. Victims of “progress” they have become.
A domestic helper from Hongkong or Singapore could send about 200 dollars each month to her family. That meant eleven thousand pesos last year for a brood of six, maybe more. That was higher than the take-home pay of a lowly clerk in Metro Manila, which would be about 7,000 pesos monthly. But now, with a strong peso the barometer of economic progress per the president of the land, that 200 dollars means only 6,800 pesos. Yet for both the family of the bagong bayani and the family of the lowly clerk who is lucky to even have a job, clearly that income is not enough.
And so while the children of the domestic helper or OFW could afford to go to the malls, eat at a fast-food outlet, or see a movie last year, now even they have had to forego these minor “luxuries”. More so those who subsist on their low incomes here at home. That is why shopkeepers who belong to the upper middle-class are unhappy. “Matumal” is all they can mumble.
But business costs are ever-rising. For two years now, rentals have been affected by the increased VAT, as everything else has been so affected. Fuel and utility costs are up, and despite the strong peso, imported merchandise and imported raw materials have not gone down. Why? Because the importers from whom they buy are cartelized, and worse, because the Customs people ask more and more bribes to clear their shipments. Why? Because the Customs people also have to give more and more to the politicians and powerful men above them, to keep being on their jobs.
The pan de sal, the Filipino family’s comfort breakfast --- comfort only because it is all the poor could afford --- has gone up from 2 pesos apiece to 2.50. And that’s because imported wheat is at an all-time high, and domestic sugar as well as oil have also gone up, not to mention LPG and diesel. But incomes remain at a standstill, and the employer of 85% of all Filipinos, the small entrepreneur, is unable to increase salaries to pump up consumer purchasing power, precisely because he himself is desperately making both ends meet.
To be sure, all these are not the fault of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. It is not because of her that oil has shot up to almost a hundred dollars per barrel. But it is certainly because of her lack of vision and her own sense of mis-priorities that we have to import rice and sugar and even fish, while she borrows heavily for a national broadband and cyber-education where we have an awful lack of classrooms and textbooks, let alone half-literate teachers.
It certainly is because of her government’s unbridled corruption that there are not enough funds for public health. Because she has borrowed the most of all our presidents, and she has to yet pay for the collective debt of previous presidents, a big chunk of our budget goes to debt service, P295-plus billion a year. Pray wonder, how much of those debts, hers and theirs, went to line the pockets of the corrupt in government, for which we and our future generations have to pay?
We were all shocked by the revelations of Joey de Venecia III in the broadband deal because we could not fathom how greed has outstripped all sense of proportion. We have heard how 10% or even 15% was “normal” in the days of Marcos and Cory. Or how FVR bought all those high-priced power plants which at least saved us from interminable brown-outs. Or how Erap supposedly made Chavit Singson his over-all collector of jueteng.
But we could hardly imagine how 132 million dollars in equipment and installation costs could balloon to 330 million dollars, or 15 billion pesos. Not just 15% commission or kickback, but 151 percent, or 8.7 billion pesos for a Comelec chairman, a big man and a little woman, and “for the boys.” Those are public funds, because taxpayers would have to pay, via the national budget.
One of them would have received 3 billion pesos all to himself, had the deal pushed through. But how much he had already received in advanced kickbacks we do not know. Neither do we know how another deal in another time can be made to pay ZTE or its subsidiaries, now that their broadband project has been cancelled. Thanks to the Senate of the Republic of the Philippines.
We were all shocked even more when we saw on live television how our congressmen and our governors left Malacañang last October 11 with paper bags full of cash. Half a million pesos apiece, said Among Ed Panlilio, the governor of the president’s home province, seconded by Governor Jonjon Mendoza of Bulacan, and confirmed by Manila Congressman Bienvenido Abante.
We were given sickening lies to cover up for what our two eyes could see. From pointing to unknown sub-alterns in clear obfuscation, to saying the money came from a penniless local government association in clear prevarication. And the latest --- one month after the fact --- that it came from the President’s own political party Kampi, disbursed by Rep. Amelita Villarosa, whose husband, Jose Villarosa, is a convicted murderer doing time in Muntinglupa and seeking executive clemency.
Lubha naman tayong niloloko. At ginagago pa!
This lying, cheating and over-stealing administration keeps telling the nation to “move on,” and points to their chimera of supposed economic progress as reason to turn blind, deaf and dumb to corruption most gross and immorality most patent.
Ang katanungan ko sa inyo fellow Rotarians, dapat ba tayong manahimik? Is there any trade-off for ignoring the corruption other than more daily misery, and worse, a slaying, sinking sense of helplessness and hopelessness?
And even if there was any kind of trade-off, such as living in fear of the unknown, can we continue living a lie? Can we grow our children and their children in an environment where honor has become alien? Where perfidy is considered normal, where larceny of public funds is par for the course?
Bishop Teodoro Bacani wrote in his weekly column in a broadsheet the other day about “people of the lie”, referring to the officials of the Arroyo government. Yet if we keep silent, if we tolerate all these, do we not ourselves become “people of the lie”?
These are the worst of times. No president in all of our history has been ever so worse as that which we now endure.
But if we resolve to change all these, if we re-discover the moral values and the shared principles that make us a Christian nation, and insist that all of us follow the same --- ruler or the ruled, powerful and the weak--- every Filipino, then we shall begin to find the solution to the worst of times.
Each and every Filipino must demand of the leaders they elect the kind of character that would brook no compromise with evil self-interest, who would do what is right, and right what is wrong.
This is what our living faith teaches us. This is what our founding fathers taught us.
Only then can the worst of times become an opportunity to start building the best of times --- a nation worthy of our fathers, a nation we could proudly bequeath to our children, our saling-lahi. A nation built on the enduring values of honor and integrity, nationalism and democratic equity.
Thank you and magandang gabi sa inyong lahat.
*****
I speak to you tonight in what can best be described as living in the worst of times, which collectively we can make the best of times.
We are incessantly told, through media and public pronouncements, that the economy is on a roll. The proof, we are told, is that the peso is at a seven-year high compared to the weakening American dollar.
The proof, we are told, is that the stock market is booming, where even worthless paper sells for ten times its book value.
But why do we not hear applause from the man on the street?
Why is the small and medium-term businessman caught in a bind, between ever-increasing costs and dwindling sales? Go to every mall, go to Divisoria or any palengke for that matter, and look around. Every shopkeeper will tell you “saksakan ng tumal ang benta.”
Go to the houses of ordinary people, and look at the food on their table. Many have stopped cooking fresh meals in their houses, because the cost of fuel and power has gone way too high that it has become cheaper to buy cooked viands from the neighborhood carinderia. That should mean the underground economy is at least thriving, but go ask the carinderia owner, and she will tell you that their suki have stopped buying several viands, and buy only one, either fried fish or gulay.
Go to the houses of the urban poor slumped in small hovels where the rats have started to gnaw, not at their measly possessions, but at their infants, and see that they have been subsisting on rice and instant noodles almost every day of their miserable lives.
A group of foreign observers from the European Union were in tears two days ago when they visited our poor brethren who live by the banks of the esteros and even underneath the bridges of “prosperous” Metro Manila.
And probably the most tragic of all, 12-year-old Marianeth Amper of Davao hanged herself and left a diary detailing her frustration and depression brought about by extreme poverty that besets her family.
Even our OFW’s, regaled as our “bagong bayani”, complain that they have lost more than 20% of their purchasing power compared to a scant year ago. Victims of “progress” they have become.
A domestic helper from Hongkong or Singapore could send about 200 dollars each month to her family. That meant eleven thousand pesos last year for a brood of six, maybe more. That was higher than the take-home pay of a lowly clerk in Metro Manila, which would be about 7,000 pesos monthly. But now, with a strong peso the barometer of economic progress per the president of the land, that 200 dollars means only 6,800 pesos. Yet for both the family of the bagong bayani and the family of the lowly clerk who is lucky to even have a job, clearly that income is not enough.
And so while the children of the domestic helper or OFW could afford to go to the malls, eat at a fast-food outlet, or see a movie last year, now even they have had to forego these minor “luxuries”. More so those who subsist on their low incomes here at home. That is why shopkeepers who belong to the upper middle-class are unhappy. “Matumal” is all they can mumble.
But business costs are ever-rising. For two years now, rentals have been affected by the increased VAT, as everything else has been so affected. Fuel and utility costs are up, and despite the strong peso, imported merchandise and imported raw materials have not gone down. Why? Because the importers from whom they buy are cartelized, and worse, because the Customs people ask more and more bribes to clear their shipments. Why? Because the Customs people also have to give more and more to the politicians and powerful men above them, to keep being on their jobs.
The pan de sal, the Filipino family’s comfort breakfast --- comfort only because it is all the poor could afford --- has gone up from 2 pesos apiece to 2.50. And that’s because imported wheat is at an all-time high, and domestic sugar as well as oil have also gone up, not to mention LPG and diesel. But incomes remain at a standstill, and the employer of 85% of all Filipinos, the small entrepreneur, is unable to increase salaries to pump up consumer purchasing power, precisely because he himself is desperately making both ends meet.
To be sure, all these are not the fault of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. It is not because of her that oil has shot up to almost a hundred dollars per barrel. But it is certainly because of her lack of vision and her own sense of mis-priorities that we have to import rice and sugar and even fish, while she borrows heavily for a national broadband and cyber-education where we have an awful lack of classrooms and textbooks, let alone half-literate teachers.
It certainly is because of her government’s unbridled corruption that there are not enough funds for public health. Because she has borrowed the most of all our presidents, and she has to yet pay for the collective debt of previous presidents, a big chunk of our budget goes to debt service, P295-plus billion a year. Pray wonder, how much of those debts, hers and theirs, went to line the pockets of the corrupt in government, for which we and our future generations have to pay?
We were all shocked by the revelations of Joey de Venecia III in the broadband deal because we could not fathom how greed has outstripped all sense of proportion. We have heard how 10% or even 15% was “normal” in the days of Marcos and Cory. Or how FVR bought all those high-priced power plants which at least saved us from interminable brown-outs. Or how Erap supposedly made Chavit Singson his over-all collector of jueteng.
But we could hardly imagine how 132 million dollars in equipment and installation costs could balloon to 330 million dollars, or 15 billion pesos. Not just 15% commission or kickback, but 151 percent, or 8.7 billion pesos for a Comelec chairman, a big man and a little woman, and “for the boys.” Those are public funds, because taxpayers would have to pay, via the national budget.
One of them would have received 3 billion pesos all to himself, had the deal pushed through. But how much he had already received in advanced kickbacks we do not know. Neither do we know how another deal in another time can be made to pay ZTE or its subsidiaries, now that their broadband project has been cancelled. Thanks to the Senate of the Republic of the Philippines.
We were all shocked even more when we saw on live television how our congressmen and our governors left Malacañang last October 11 with paper bags full of cash. Half a million pesos apiece, said Among Ed Panlilio, the governor of the president’s home province, seconded by Governor Jonjon Mendoza of Bulacan, and confirmed by Manila Congressman Bienvenido Abante.
We were given sickening lies to cover up for what our two eyes could see. From pointing to unknown sub-alterns in clear obfuscation, to saying the money came from a penniless local government association in clear prevarication. And the latest --- one month after the fact --- that it came from the President’s own political party Kampi, disbursed by Rep. Amelita Villarosa, whose husband, Jose Villarosa, is a convicted murderer doing time in Muntinglupa and seeking executive clemency.
Lubha naman tayong niloloko. At ginagago pa!
This lying, cheating and over-stealing administration keeps telling the nation to “move on,” and points to their chimera of supposed economic progress as reason to turn blind, deaf and dumb to corruption most gross and immorality most patent.
Ang katanungan ko sa inyo fellow Rotarians, dapat ba tayong manahimik? Is there any trade-off for ignoring the corruption other than more daily misery, and worse, a slaying, sinking sense of helplessness and hopelessness?
And even if there was any kind of trade-off, such as living in fear of the unknown, can we continue living a lie? Can we grow our children and their children in an environment where honor has become alien? Where perfidy is considered normal, where larceny of public funds is par for the course?
Bishop Teodoro Bacani wrote in his weekly column in a broadsheet the other day about “people of the lie”, referring to the officials of the Arroyo government. Yet if we keep silent, if we tolerate all these, do we not ourselves become “people of the lie”?
These are the worst of times. No president in all of our history has been ever so worse as that which we now endure.
But if we resolve to change all these, if we re-discover the moral values and the shared principles that make us a Christian nation, and insist that all of us follow the same --- ruler or the ruled, powerful and the weak--- every Filipino, then we shall begin to find the solution to the worst of times.
Each and every Filipino must demand of the leaders they elect the kind of character that would brook no compromise with evil self-interest, who would do what is right, and right what is wrong.
This is what our living faith teaches us. This is what our founding fathers taught us.
Only then can the worst of times become an opportunity to start building the best of times --- a nation worthy of our fathers, a nation we could proudly bequeath to our children, our saling-lahi. A nation built on the enduring values of honor and integrity, nationalism and democratic equity.
Thank you and magandang gabi sa inyong lahat.
*****
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Charges vs Doble May Yet Bring Out Truth in Garci Mess
The government’s charges against former military spy Vidal Doble Jr. may yet turn out to be the forum where the truth behind the “Hello Garci” wiretapping mess may emerge, Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson said Thursday.
Lacson said that unlike the Senate, the courts are not likely to allow Malacañang to invoke Executive Order 464, which gags officials under the executive department from testifying at a congressional investigation.
“I’m absolutely sure the court will not allow the invocation of EO 464. While the Senate continues to fail to get to the bottom of the ‘Hello Garci’ controversy, I hope the court will,” he said.
On Wednesday, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed wiretapping charges against Doble, who resurfaced after two years and testified before the Senate the details of the military’s “Operation Lighthouse.”
Lacson said he wants the case against Doble filed in court immediately so Doble’s former superiors in the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) cannot hide behind EO 464.
“Given a choice, I would prefer that the case be filed in court immediately so subpoenas will be issued to Tirso Danga and the rest of the ISAFP personnel and others who were involved in the wiretapping of Garci’s cell phone,” he said.
o0o
Lacson said that unlike the Senate, the courts are not likely to allow Malacañang to invoke Executive Order 464, which gags officials under the executive department from testifying at a congressional investigation.
“I’m absolutely sure the court will not allow the invocation of EO 464. While the Senate continues to fail to get to the bottom of the ‘Hello Garci’ controversy, I hope the court will,” he said.
On Wednesday, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed wiretapping charges against Doble, who resurfaced after two years and testified before the Senate the details of the military’s “Operation Lighthouse.”
Lacson said he wants the case against Doble filed in court immediately so Doble’s former superiors in the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) cannot hide behind EO 464.
“Given a choice, I would prefer that the case be filed in court immediately so subpoenas will be issued to Tirso Danga and the rest of the ISAFP personnel and others who were involved in the wiretapping of Garci’s cell phone,” he said.
o0o
Friday, November 2, 2007
Garci Recommended Macarambon to Comelec Post
Citing at least two independent sources, Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson maintained Friday that the appointment of Moslemen Macarambon to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is tainted with the “golden hand” of former poll commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.
Despite Macarambon’s claims that former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. lobbied for him in Malacañang, Lacson said it was Garcillano who convinced Mrs. Arroyo to appoint Macarambon to the vacant Comelec post.
“My two independent sources stand by their assertion that it was Garcillano who recommended Judge Macarambon to the Comelec. I maintain my position that if indeed Mrs. Arroyo heeded Garcillano’s request to have Macarambon appointed, there is no denying the fact that the appointment is, to say the least, tainted,” Lacson said.
Lacson earlier cited information reaching him indicating that Macarambon, a judge based in Iligan City, is a “known protégé” of Garcillano. Garcillano had been linked to massive cheating in the 2004 elections.
He said he will question Macarambon’s appointment once it is brought before the Commission on Appointments (CA).
On the other hand, Lacson said he is willing to apologize to Macarambon if his information is proven wrong.
“As I was bold enough to express my negative opinion on the nominee, I think I should be bolder to even apologize to him if proven wrong about the integrity of the selection process that preceded his nomination to the poll body,” he said.
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Despite Macarambon’s claims that former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. lobbied for him in Malacañang, Lacson said it was Garcillano who convinced Mrs. Arroyo to appoint Macarambon to the vacant Comelec post.
“My two independent sources stand by their assertion that it was Garcillano who recommended Judge Macarambon to the Comelec. I maintain my position that if indeed Mrs. Arroyo heeded Garcillano’s request to have Macarambon appointed, there is no denying the fact that the appointment is, to say the least, tainted,” Lacson said.
Lacson earlier cited information reaching him indicating that Macarambon, a judge based in Iligan City, is a “known protégé” of Garcillano. Garcillano had been linked to massive cheating in the 2004 elections.
He said he will question Macarambon’s appointment once it is brought before the Commission on Appointments (CA).
On the other hand, Lacson said he is willing to apologize to Macarambon if his information is proven wrong.
“As I was bold enough to express my negative opinion on the nominee, I think I should be bolder to even apologize to him if proven wrong about the integrity of the selection process that preceded his nomination to the poll body,” he said.
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