'Ingrate Lacson working for GMA'

MANILA, Philippines - Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada turned the tables on Sen. Panfilo Lacson yesterday and accused him of being an ingrate and a possible administration ally masquerading as opposition.

Estrada also slammed Lacson for vilifying his father, former President Joseph Estrada, to save himself from the double murder case filed against him in connection with the killings of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada's speech

“Do not throw anything at anyone when there is blood on your hands,” Senator Estrada said, adding that Lacson even had the audacity to use the name of God in his speech when he himself has a lot of explaining to do before the public.

“After all is said and done, the bottom line here is that Mr. Lacson, in desperation, is now using the Senate floor to divert attention to President Estrada and away from himself in connection with the forthcoming, non-bailable double murder charge that will be filed against him in the Dacer-Corbito murder case. And to top it all, he is using his parliamentary privileges so that he can lie without being held to account to anyone,” Senator Estrada said.

The senator started his privilege speech by recalling how Lacson was first introduced by former police Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Berroya to his father, who was then vice president.

“It did not take long before Mr. Lacson betrayed Mr. Berroya,” he said.

He also emphasized that Lacson earned his first star rank way ahead of his peers and was appointed Philippine National Police (PNP) chief a few years later by his father.  

“If there were indeed second thoughts over his appointment

then, it was because Mr. Lacson was embroiled in the Kuratong Baleleng rubout controversy,” the senator said, belying Lacson’s claim that it was his objections against jueteng that delayed his appointment as PNP chief.

Estrada also questioned his colleague’s motive in accusing his father of many things now after being silent for eight years.

He said the self-serving statements of Lacson were a combination of “gutter talk, hearsay and fishwives tales.”

“In all these, we ask, what are his motives? Is he now on the way to show his real color as an administration man masquerading as part of the opposition?” he said, reiterating that Lacson was instrumental in dividing the opposition in the presidential elections of 2004, thus allowing the Arroyo administration to continue in power.

Estrada said Lacson should have resigned from the posts he held under his father’s governance.

“Has Mr. Lacson forgotten that President Estrada, even if he was already incarcerated and burdened by the plunder case against him, willingly, without hesitation, gave his support?” the senator asked.

“If President Estrada is the devious criminal that Mr. Lacson would now portray him to be, why did Mr. Lacson go to great lengths to seek his endorsement, not once, not twice, but three times in the elections of 2001, 2004 and 2007?” he argued.

Jinggoy: ‘We’re not afraid’

The senator read a statement from the lawyer of former senior superintendent Cezar Mancao II, Ferdinand Topacio, saying the only direct evidence pertaining to the mastermind of the Dacer-Corbito murders pointed to Lacson.

“The evidence regarding the participation of former President Joseph E. Estrada in the said crime is at best sketchy thus far, and in my humble opinion, will not pass either in a court of law or before any preliminary investigation in the Department of Justice,” Estrada said, quoting Topacio.

The younger Estrada said another Mancao lawyer asked for financial assistance for his client in December of last year because Lacson supposedly abandoned them already.

“I asked the lawyer of Mr. Mancao, why come to me? Why not go to Mr. Lacson? And the lawyer’s answer to me and I quote: Pinabayaan at tinabla na kami,” he said.

Senator Estrada also belied Lacson’s other allegations against his father but refused to be interpellated, saying he would just respond to his privilege speech next week with another speech.

He also said his our family will never be afraid of somebody “known to be an expert in silencing his foes.”

A web of lies

Estrada also lash out at businessman Alfonso Yuchengco, who earlier in the day corroborated Lacson’s allegation that he was harassed and pressured to sell his 7.75 percent shares in Philippine Telecommunications Investment Corp. (PTIC) to Metro Pacific under its president Manuel V. Pangilinan.

Pangilinan’s legal counsel, Ray Espinosa, denied on Monday that Yuchengo was pressured to sell.

“Mr. Yuchengco now claims that he was pressured into selling to corroborate Mr. Lacson’s claim. How can we trust the word of someone who was one of the beneficiaries of (President Arroyo) when RCBC floated the infamous PEACe bonds? Our people will soon pay the price as these bonds mature,” he said, referring to the Yuchengcos, owners of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC).

There were allegations that the auction for Poverty Eradication and Alleviation Certificates (PEACe) bonds was rigged. CODE-NGO, an umbrella organization of 2,500 non-government organizations, people’s organizations and cooperatives nationwide, bought P10.169 billion in 10-year zero coupon bonds issued by the Philippine government in an auction in October 2001, via an underwriting agreement with RCBC Capital Corporation.

“How can we trust the word of someone like Mr. Yuchengco who has betrayed the trust of Pacific Plan holders?” Estrada added.

Back in 2002, the Yuchengcos’ Pacific Plans stopped payments of claims after it encountered liquidity problems due to its offering of open-ended plans.

Who’s lying now?

Estrada also tried to parry Lacson’s accusation that his father was a jueteng and smuggling protector.

He said if his father was a jueteng protector as Lacson claimed, the former president would not have sought to legalize it into bingo 2-ball.

“Is this the act of a man who has benefited from jueteng? If ever President Estrada did not bear down on jueteng at that time, he was deeply concerned with those who depended on it for their livelihood,” Estrada said, adding that Lacson was asked to go after kidnap-for-ransom gangs, carnappers and drug lords at that time.

“Mr. Lacson also accused President Estrada of condoning rice smuggling in Cebu and of dressed chicken. By Mr. Lacson’s admission, it was his men who were being accused of harassing shipments in the customs area,” the senator said.

He said his father constituted Task Force Aduana to go after all forms of smuggling. But because the former president was disappointed over the performance of the task force, he asked Lacson to take charge.

It ain’t over till it’s over

But Sen. Lacson was unfazed by Estrada’s rebuttal and even told the media that he is gathering more information that would bolster accusations that the former President had a hand in the disappearance of former Philippine Gaming Corp (Pagcor) employee Edgar Bentain in 1998.

“I was about to ask the gentleman from San Juan if he was aware that the Dacer family already filed an amended complaint against his father with the DOJ to include Joseph Ejercito Estrada in the complaint sheet in connection with the double murder case of Salvador Bubby Dacer and Corbito,” Lacson said, when he took the floor after Senator Estrada refused to be interpellated.

He also disputed the claim that it was Berroya who introduced him to the former President, saying their first encounter happened when he arrested him for mauling the late actor Rudy Fernandez while still mayor of San Juan. 

Lacson also feels vindicated with the statement of Yuchengco, and raised a howl when Estrada referred to him by his full name - Panfilo Morena Lacson - throughout his privilege speech. 

He said he deserves “a more respectful address” from his colleague.

Former Cabinet vouched for Erap

Meanwhile, a group of former cabinet members of former President Estrada rallied yesterday behind the latter, saying that he is not a “micro manager” type of a president.

In a joint statement, Estrada’s cabinet members led by former Labor Secretary Benny Laguesma said that Estrada’s management style was to give full authority to Cabinet secretaries or heads of agencies and offices to achieve the goals of their different departments and he never bypassed their authority.

The former Cabinet members were reacting to the allegations made by Senator Lacson that Estrada would “give direct orders deep into layers of the bureaucracy.”

“The Cabinet is one in observing and attesting that President Estrada was not a micro manager. All of us from his Cabinet experienced his management style, which was that he would allow us to perform our tasks but he would hold us responsible and accountable for our sphere of responsibilities, making sure only that we were achieving our department goals in line with or on the basis of public service,” the joint statement of Estrada’s former cabinet members said.

Aside from Laguesma, those who threw their support behind Estrada included former Budget Secretary Ben Diokno, Agrarian Reform Secretary Horacio Boy Morales, Health Secretary Quasi Romualdez, Press Secretary Dong Puno, Transportation Secretary Jun Rivera, Public Works Secretary Gregorio Vigilar, Justice Secretary Artemio Tuquero and Finance Secretary Jose Pardo.

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes also vouched for the integrity of the deposed president, citing his first hand experience as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

“I know President Estrada. I served under him. He had not asked me for anything that was in violation of the law. So we have respect for each other, and I am proud to say that there is nothing I can say that could tarnish the reputation of former President Estrada.” Reyes said. - With Donnabelle Gatdula, Jose Rodel Clapano, Christina Mendez, Cecille Suerte Felipe