GMA welcomes probe on party for witnesses

President Arroyo yesterday said she welcomes the Senate probe into the get-together party hosted by Malacañang for Equitable-PCI Bank officers and employees who testified for the prosecution at former President Joseph Estrada’s impeachment trial.

Acting Press Secretary Silvestre Afable said in a telephone interview that the Palace will cooperate fully with any investigation to be conducted by the Senate as proposed by opposition Sen. Blas Ople.

Ople is set to file a resolution calling for an inquiry into the matter today. The senator from Bulacan added that Mrs. Arroyo’s hosting of the get-together party for Equitable-PCI Bank senior vice president Clarissa Ocampo, legal division chief Manuel Curato and Timog Avenue branch manager Edelquinn Nantes, among other bank officials, is a culpable violation of the Constitution, an impeachable offense.

"We will fully cooperate with any investigation," Afable said. "The get-together party hosted by Malacañang is not an intervention with the judicial system. We respect the judicial system."

He said that while the President welcomes the probe, she does not need to personally attend the hearings for the investigation: "I think there is no need for her to attend the investigation. There are other people who (can) explain the matter for her."

Afable also said the opposition is using the issue to discredit Mrs. Arroyo: "If they want a formal investigation, they can use the proper channel. There are many groups that went to the Palace after EDSA II. They (Ocampo, Curato and Nantes) came to the Palace to attend an event in relation to Edsa II," Afable added.

The proposed probe came after former Estrada lawyer Raymund Fortun said the Palace get-together could be a basis for declaring a mistrial of the plunder cases Estrada faces. Fortun was part of Estrada’s legal team and is now his spokesman.

However, Ombudsman Aniano Desierto and Estrada’s court-appointed lawyer both said the party could not be used as a basis to declare a mistrial of the cases against Estrada now pending before the Sandiganbayan Special Division.

In a related development, Fortun said Lucena "Baby" Ortaliza, Estrada’s depositing agent in Security Bank’s San Juan branch and Jaime Dichaves’ depositing agent in the controversial Jose Velarde account with Equitable-PCI, could have been a witness for Estrada’s defense in the impeachment trial.

Estrada’s spokesman said he tried to convince Ortaliza to testify in Estrada’s defense, but added that Ortaliza declined to take the witness stand because she had a family to support.

"Almost a year ago, I personally talked to Ortaliza. I’m convinced that she should be a vital witness for the defense of the former President because of her knowledge on the deposits of Jaime Dichaves in the Jose Velarde account," Fortun said.

It was for humanitarian reasons, Fortun said, that they did not compel Ortaliza to testify for Estrada’s defense at the impeachment trial: "Ortaliza has six children and they may go hungry. We took pity on her (and) we still believe Dichaves is still the best witness to refute the prosecution’s claim (that the Jose Velarde account belongs to Estrada)."

Desierto announced on Friday that the Office of the Ombudsman will file a motion and manifestation to include Ortaliza on the list of Estrada’s co-accused for the capital offense of plunder.