Miriam hits Ramos anew on power deal

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago denounced former President Fidel Ramos again yesterday, this time accusing him of having violated the country’s anti-graft and anti-plunder laws.

In a privilege speech, Santiago said that in 1993, Ramos awarded the P3.3-billion contract to rehabilitate the Binga hydroelectric power plant in Itogon, Benguet to his businessman-friend Catalino Tan despite the fact that the latter had no experience in projects of that nature.

"Tan had no track record in power generation before Ramos gave him the contract. Tan at that time was a supplier of boots to the military, a garments manufacturer and producer of canned food," she said. But what was more anomalous was that the businessman was paid P1.5 billion "even though he did not rehabilitate the power plant and left the man-made lake in worse condition than before, covered with silt and debris," she said.

On top of that, the Arroyo administration paid Tan on March 27, 2003 an additional $5 million, she added. Besides Ramos, Santiago claimed that former National Power Corp. (Napocor) president Guido Delgado had criminal liability in the award of the contract.

Delgado continued to insist on paying Tan despite the recommendation of his underlings that the contract be terminated, she said.

Tracing the former leader’s closeness to Tan, the maverick pro-administration senator said Narciso Ramos, the former president’s father, was godfather to the contractor of the Benguet power plant rehabilitation project.

"That made Tan godbrother to Fidel Ramos. Tan was a major campaign contributor to Ramos and the Lakas Party, and a generous donor to projects connected with Ramos’ daughter Jo, his father Narciso and his mother Angela," she said.

She announced that the Senate energy committee, which she chairs, will investigate Tan’s project with she described as "a white elephant, a milking cow, or in other words, palagatasan."

She said the former president’s businessman-friend was initially involved in the Binga rehabilitation project as a broker for Chinese investors but took over it when these investors quarreled among themselves and refused to pay him commission amounting to $8 million.

The investors’ quarrel reached the Securities and Exchange Commission, which was forced to appoint a management committee for the Binga rehabilitation.