Rep. Willie Buyson Villarama (Aksyon Demokratiko, Bulacan) finally categorically linked Justice Secretary Hernando Perez yesterday to the reported $2-million bribery to allow a Latin American firm to operate a power plant in Laguna.
Addressing the Philippine Insurers Club in Makati City, Villarama revealed a letter he sent yesterday morning to Chairman Dario Rama of the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) who was inquiring about the Bulacan lawmaker’s "Million Dollar Man" exposé.
But Perez again denied the allegations that have long been the subject of coffee shop talk yesterday, and instead challenged Villarama to make these insinuations under oath so that he can press charges.
The 63-year-old Perez, a former three-term Batangas congressman, pointed out that the proper forum for Villarama’s endless "unverified" expose is the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, which will soon be conducting a probe on the controversial issue.
"I just hope that he will make his statements under oath. He will have to make this under oath when this matter is submitted for investigation by Senator (Panfilo) Lacson. I will make my move after the investigation. It’s not fair for me. I deny it," Perez asserted.
Villarama’s letter to Rama said in part:
"In reply to your questions, I wish to advise that based on unverified information coming from reliable sources, the government official who, I believe, may either have intimate knowledge of, or have connection with the subject bribery, is Secretary Hernando Perez.
"I should like to emphasize that with this letter, I am only doing my part as a government official motivated by no other desire than to eradicate graft and corruption in our country," he said.
Villarama furnished Rama copies of the two documents he showed his colleagues Tuesday last week in the course of delivering a privileged speech about the "Million Dollar Man" in President Arroyo’s Cabinet.
One of the documents is a deposit detail report of the Trade and Commerce Bank (Uruguay) dated Feb. 23, 2001, which shows the route taken by the $2 million transfer that ended up in a Coutts Bank (Hong Kong) account associated with the Cabinet member.
The other document is a deposit instruction purportedly coming from the official or the person who handled the transfer for him.
The payoff reportedly came from a former crony of ousted President Joseph Estrada.
Opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson has named Perez as the "Million Dollar Man," an accusation that the justice secretary has consistently denied. Lacson also claimed the money came from Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez, who has not talked about the controversy.
Both Villarama and Lacson had referred to the same Coutts Bank account where the $2 million allegedly ended up being deposited.
But the opposition senator made a further revelation: that the account holder is a banker-brother-in-law of Perez but that the money was clearly for Perez.
Villarama told his Makati audience yesterday that he is "convinced beyond reasonable doubt that the documents I have in my possession if properly investigated, will uncover significant financial transactions of an illegal nature."
He said a case of plunder could even be brought against the Million Dollar Man in the Cabinet.
"However, I must point out that I do not have the investigative powers and capability to undertake this task. It is the executive branch of government and subsequently the judiciary which must pursue this case to its ultimate resolution," Villarama said.
He said the Senate also has the capability to investigate Perez and look into the Million Dollar Man controversy.
The Senate can even seek the assistance of the Hong Kong government to seek or verify bank documents, he added.
"If this administration fails to act on this case, then we have no one to blame but ourselves. Because the fight against corruption exempts no one, not even one who is expected to help dispense justice in this country," he stressed.
The Bulacan congressman, who was Mrs. Arroyo’s chief of staff when she was vice president, told his listeners that he believes the President won’t countenance the alleged wrongdoing of her wayward Cabinet member.
He said the President "would not allow corruption as glaring as this to mar the noble aspirations of her administration."
Villarama recalled that during his time as her chief of staff, Mrs. Arroyo asked him to return a gift of jewelry worth millions of pesos.
"She returned it without hesitation or a tinge of regret. That was the Gloria I knew. And I believe that is the Gloria who would decide the fate of this Million Dollar Man," he said.
He also chided his detractors in public office and in the media who called him names and who he said "could have helped the nation more by digging deeper into the documents supplied to them."
He pointed out that as far as his memory can recall, "I am the only person who has been charged based on an unverified report," he explained, lifting a quote from the letter-complaint sent by the lawmaker to PAGC Chairman Rama.
"It is not correct to indict anybody based on unverified information. This is most unfair. This is contrary to what he (Villarama) told me and my son (Frank, a Batangas congressman)," Perez reiterated as he thumbed down anew calls for him to temporarily step down while an investigation is underway.
"I don’t have to (resign). I asked the President if there was any need for me to submit my courtesy resignation, but she turned it down and said it’s counter-productive. So I told her, ‘anytime you can fire me out’," he told justice reporters at a press briefing.
Perez also claimed that there is a "possibility" that Manila’s sixth district Congressman Jimenez, who is facing extradition to the US for a string of criminal cases, may have something to do with Villarama’s attacks, which he said were "totally unprovoked."
"I hope it is not true that it is orchestrated by Jimenez because it will only prove that there is such a (smear) drive," he said. "I base my assertions on fact and not on unverified reports."
Villarama was president of the Manila Times when Jimenez still owned the newspaper, Perez said.
He told reporters he sent a letter to Coutts Bank in Hong Kong and inquired whether there was an account under his name. A separate letter was also sent by his brother-in-law, Ramon Arceo, who allegedly holds the account for him.
"I wrote the Coutts Bank to ask if I had any account. So did Arceo," he said, adding it will be up to the bank whether to give them the courtesy of a reply as he was unaware if the former Crown Colony has strict bank secrecy laws.
Arceo has denied Lacson’s accusations that the $2-million account was opened under his name, so as to protect the real account holder, supposedly Perez.
"I deny having any deposit account in Coutts Bank in Hong Kong in the past or now. Neither do I have an account in Hangseng Bank. I have never opened any such account for myself or anybody," he said in a prepared statement.
He said neither was he in Hong Kong on Feb. 25, 2001, contrary to reports that he was with Perez en route to Hong Kong to receive the money, which was to have been the tradeoff for the DOJ’s favorable opinion allowing Argentine firm Industrias Metalurgicas Pesacarmona SA to operate a power firm in Caliraya, Laguna.