Miriam tags FVR, Erap housing chiefs in Tondo scam

Pro-administration Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago linked the housing chiefs of former President Fidel Ramos and ousted President Joseph Estrada yesterday to what she described as the multibillion-peso Smokey Mountain land reclamation scam.

Continuing her exposé on the project, Santiago said Dionisio de la Serna and his successor, Robert Aventajado, pushed actively for the development of Smokey Mountain in Tondo, Manila, and the reclamation of land in nearby areas.

"They are the principal suspects with criminal liability in this scam, in addition to former President Ramos and Reghis Romero II," she said.

Malacañang cautioned the public yesterday against prejudging individuals implicated in the alleged irregularities in the Smokey Mountain development and reclamation project.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said the Senate, led by the Blue Ribbon Committee, has yet to conduct an investigation into the reported anomalies involving Ramos, former officials of the National Housing Authority (NHA) and Romero, a contractor.

"This is something that still has to be investigated and we would like to appeal for sobriety," Bunye said. "Let us not prejudge personalities involved here until and unless specific evidence has been uncovered against (them)."

In his daily press briefing, Bunye reiterated that NHA officials suspected of involvement in the scam will cooperate in the Senate investigation to shed light on the questioned project.

"This is a matter of details. But I’m sure the appropriate agencies with information that is required by the Senate will be made available, so that this investigation will be put in a proper light," he said. "I’m sure (the NHA) has the records to back up these different transactions."

Bunye reaffirmed the Palace’s stand that it will not interfere in the case even if it involves Ramos, one of President Arroyo’s key political allies.

De la Serna was head of the Smokey Mountain development project executive committee during the Ramos administration. He was succeeded by Aventajado, who served as Estrada’s adviser for flagship projects.

Romero is the owner of R-II Builders Inc., the company that was awarded the multibillion-peso contract for the development of the project and the reclamation of an initial 40 hectares of land that was later expanded to 79 hectares.

Santiago named three other "principal suspects." They are Roberto Balzo, the general manager of the NHA who signed the contract with R-II Builders together with the subsequent agreements covering major revisions; Edmundo Sese, president of R-II Builders; and Vicente Suazo Jr., president of Harbour Centre Port Terminal, which Romero also controls.

The other persons she dragged into the controversy are her Senate colleague Alfredo Lim, who was then Manila mayor; former public works and highways secretaries Jose de Jesus and Edmundo Mir, former environment and natural resources secretaries Angel Alcala and Ricardo Umali, former economic planning secretary Dante Canlas, former Public Estates Authority (PEA) general managers Eduardo Zialcita and Amado Lagdameo, and Development Bank of the Philippines chief operating officer Edgardo Garcia.

Lim and the others were members of the Smokey Mountain development project executive committee led by Dela Serna and later by Aventajado.

Before mentioning their names, Santiago said she did not wish to "pass any shadow on them" since they were just executive committee members who would most likely not have been involved in Romero’s contract.

Lim, a former party mate of Santiago in her People’s Reform Party, promptly cried foul, saying his name was "indiscriminately mentioned" and associated with alleged acts of wrongdoing.

"I can challenge anybody to show proof that I had anything to do with the financial aspect of the contract involved. In my recollection, all the mayors of Metro Manila were present during the initial stages of the planned reclamation of Smokey Mountain. Any mayor in his right frame of mind will certainly agree to plans of addressing the garbage mountain problem," he said.

He added that he was supporting the planned investigation into the "scam."

"Kahit isang kusing, o anino man nito, ay wala akong natanggap dito (I did not receive even a single centavo)," Lim told his colleagues.

He said he was ready to resign as a senator if there is proof that he benefited financially from the Smokey Mountain deal.

Venting her ire again on Ramos — who defeated her in the 1992 presidential elections by just over 800,000 votes — Santiago accused the former president of "malversation of public funds," for authorizing several government financial institutions to invest in Smokey Mountain.

She said among such institutions and the amount of investments they made are the Social Security System, P1.039 billion; Landbank, P124 million; Philippine National Bank, P300 million; Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), P835 million; Home Guaranty Corp., P350 million; Home Guaranty Corp. Provident Fund, P30 million; and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., P6 million.

She claimed Ramos ordered these institutions to invest in the project when Romero ran out of money for it.

The government then should have terminated the contract because Romero violated its provisions, principally the one that guaranteed that the contractor would spend his own money, she said.

"This guy Romero is a very, very fortunate and blessed person. We should ask him what his birthday is," she said.

The Senate cannot yet start the investigation into the Tondo project as it has yet to complete the organization of its committees, including the Blue Ribbon chaired by Sen. Joker Arroyo.

Asked whether he would invite Ramos when the probe begins, Arroyo told journalists, "It’s up to the committee."

Santiago said the former president would head the list of witnesses she would like the probe panel to invite or subpoena.

Investigate OWWA too

In a related development, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., sought the investigation of OWWA yesterday for its "misuse" of hundreds of millions in funds that it holds in trust for overseas workers.

In a resolution, he said the OWWA investment in Romero’s project "now appears to be unrecoverable."

The investment, now valued at more than P1 billion, was supposed to have matured on Oct. 12, 1999 but has remained unpaid up to the present, he added.

Pimentel also said the OWWA and other government financial institutions that invested in Smokey Mountain violated a Department of Finance memorandum limiting their investments to "qualified government securities" such as treasury bills and notes.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court (SC) directed the NHA and R-II Builders to answer the petition seeking to nullify their joint venture agreement for the development and reclamation of Smokey Mountain.

In a one-page order dated Aug. 10 and released yesterday, the SC also asked the respondents, without giving due course to the petition filed by former solicitor general Francisco Chavez, to comment on his motion seeking a temporary restraining order within 10 days from notice.

In a 64-page petition filed last week, Chavez sought a temporary restraining order, a writ of preliminary injunction or both to stop the respondents from implementing the project and all other agreements related to it to avoid further damage to taxpayers.

Chavez said the deal approved during the Ramos administration was illegal because the Constitution states that lands of public domain cannot be acquired by public corporations.

The NHA and R-II Builders signed the joint venture agreement on March 9, 1999. There was no specified payment for the firm to develop Smokey Mountain, a dumpsite in Tondo, Manila, into a low-cost medium-rise housing complex and industrial or commercial site.

Chavez noted the government also shouldered the expenses for the project when Romero’s company ran out of money after building only a few houses. R-II Builders was supposed to fully fund and complete the project without any cost to the government.

He said government agencies had contributed to the Asset Pool Agreement, totaling P3.157 billion, to save the Smokey Mountain project.

"It is worrisome that slowly the equity of these government financing institutions and offices is being diluted in favor of corporations owned and controlled by Reghis Romero II," he said in a statement.

In the agreement, the government granted R-II Builders reclamation rights over a large parcel of foreshore and submerged lands at the Smokey Mountain area and effect their subsequent transfer to Romero’s company as payment for the development.

Chavez said only the PEA has the exclusive power to reclaim lands under public domain.

The NHA, he added, was also never given the authority by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to undertake the reclamation.

Aside from being inalienable public lands that are "beyond the commerce of man," Chavez argued there had been neither a declaration that these lands were no longer needed for public use nor any law passed that would allow their sale.

He also cited the lack of public bidding when the NHA awarded ownership of the reclaimed lands to R-II Builders.

Chavez called on the SC to nullify the transfer of land to Harbour Centre Port Terminal, Inc., a corporation mostly owned and controlled by R-II Builders and R-II Holdings, Inc., owned by Romero.

He asked that NHA and R-II Builders be compelled to disclose to the public all documents and information related to the project. — With Marichu Villanueva, Aurea Calica