PEA chief: Military brass, solon in scheme to discredit GMA

Public Estates Authority (PEA) Chairman Ernest Villareal claimed yesterday that a retired but still-prominent military official and a lawmaker were involved in the latest scheme to discredit President Arroyo, through allegations that the construction of President Diosdado Macapagal Avenue (PDMA) was overpriced.

He did not name the two.

Villareal told The STAR he believed the objective of the scheme was not to overthrow Mrs. Arroyo, but to keep her from winning in the presidential elections in 2004.

Meanwhile, Villareal said "there was more than meets the eye" with the motives of PEA board director Sulficio Tagud Jr. in publicizing alleged anomalous transactions in the building of the PDMA.

"This (scheme) goes very, very deep. It’s what I call now the big elephant dance," Villareal said.

He corroborated a government official’s statement that a prominent civil society leader was reportedly behind the Tagud exposé.

Villareal said he had received reports that Council on Philippine Affairs (COPA) secretary general Pastor Saycon was supposedly helping Tagud in his campaign to malign the PEA.

Saycon and Tagud were also allegedly linked to the military official and the lawmaker, Villareal said.

"This is obviously political. They want to divert the issues away from the ones being supported by COPA and discredit further the Arroyo government," Villareal said.

First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo has been linked by several media reports to the alleged scandal in the construction of the PDMA, a five-kilometer stretch of road parallel to Roxas Boulevard.

Villareal, who admitted he was a friend of the First Gentleman, denied vehemently Mr. Arroyo’s involvement in the alleged scandal.

He said he received reports that Saycon was supposedly "the one who engineered the efficient distribution (of Tagud’s exposé) to the media."

"He is also supposed to be the one who arranged Director Tagud’s interview with the press. I was also told the Mr. Saycon is supposedly the one who initiated the lies linking the First Gentleman to this current problem," he said.

Villareal said he was told that Saycon had approached several professors from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) to prod their students to hold a rally next week in front of the PEA offices.

A very angry Saycon denied Villareal’s accusations.

In a telephone interview, Saycon challenged Villareal to put all his allegations "down in writing." He said all of Villareal’s accusations were all based on hearsay.

"The issue here is that there is P1.1-billion reportedly disbursed by the PEA. The question is where did the money go and not who is behind the exposé," Saycon said. "There should be justice for the people who lost their money."

Saycon admitted he had known Tagud for at least six years now, but added that Tagud was not a COPA member.

"Don’t blame the people whom he had asked for help... for moral support," Saycon said.

Saycon questioned why Villareal and board director Rodolfo Tuazon were defending Jesusito D. Legaspi, owner of Jesusito D. Legaspi Construction Corp. (JDLC).

"It is the contractor who should be the one to explain. Why are the chairman and the director explaining (for Legaspi)?" Saycon asked.

Tagud claimed the contract of JDLC, which worked on the 2.3-kilometer segment of the PDMA was overpriced by some P600 million.