Senate to Ligot: Cooperate or stay detained

MANILA, Philippines -  Former military comptroller Jacinto Ligot would be under Senate custody indefinitely or until the next hearing on the alleged corruption in the military, Senate Blue Ribbon committee chairman Teofisto Guingona III said yesterday.

Guingona said it would now depend on Ligot and his wife Erlinda to decide to end their ordeal and face the Senate truthfully.

“It’s not up to me, it’s up to them. If they don’t want to cooperate, what can we do?” Guingona said.

Ligot was arrested Thursday night and detained at the Senate following the issuance of an order citing him for contempt.

The Senate cited Ligot and his wife Erlinda for contempt for feigning sickness when they failed to attend Thursday’s hearings at the Blue Ribbon committee investigating alleged corruption in the military.

The Senate spared Mrs. Ligot from detention because of her medical condition.

On his first day of detention, Ligot’s blood pressure was monitored at normal and stable levels. 

Since Ligot is suffering from diabetes and hypertension, Senate physician Renato Sison recommended the former general be given a strict diet. Two nurses were also checking on Ligot regularly.

Ligot had a breakfast of fried chicken bought from a nearby fast-food store but Sison advised that the former general should be given proper meals from then on.

Apart from his lawyers, no relative visited Ligot on his first day in detention.

One of Ligot’s lawyers said the former general was doing fine but has not rested very well, slept barely two hours because he is not accustomed yet to his detention cell.

Since there was no television inside the detention room, Ligot was busy reading some books when lawyers came to see him.   

At one point, he asked his security personnel to turn down the air-condition unit because he was already too cold.

Ligot, former comptroller during the term of the late Gen. Angelo Reyes, is also facing tax evasion charges recently filed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on a motion filed by Sen. Franklin Drilon who exposed the alleged 740-million peso and dollar deposits under their various accounts.

Some of the money was allegedly stashed in the account of Erlinda’s brother, Edgardo Yambao who has also been grilled in the past Senate hearings.

‘Enough is enough’

Guingona told a press conference yesterday that the Senate has been considerate to the Ligot couple in the past hearings.

He said the decision to cite the couple in contempt came about when the Ligots skipped the hearing last Thursday and feigned sickness in an apparent attempt to evade the proceedings.

“I think that it was time that they have to respect the processes of the Senate, especially now that we are searching for truth in these investigations. It was a very clear attempt that they wanted to evade the hearings. Enough is enough,” Guingona said.

Guingona said the contempt order on the couple remains until they satisfactorily answered all the questions of the Senate. 

The tentative date set for the hearing is on Wednesday next week, which means that the former general will have to spend at least five more days in the 3 by 4 square-meter windowless air-conditioned room at the Senate’s basement parking area.

Even if the Congress is on legislative break, Guingona said it could continue public hearings.

Guingona clarified the contempt on the Ligots stemmed from their deliberate effort to evade the Senate hearing last Thursday.  

He noted the separate pending motion by Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada who also wanted the couple cited for contempt for refusing to answer the questions relevant to the investigation.

Guingona said these questions could have been resolved had the Ligots attended the hearing.

Mrs. Ligot repeatedly invoked her right against self-incrimination in the last hearing when Estrada asked her about her foreign trips and who paid for her travels, details on her first travel abroad in 1981 as well as the identity of her constant travel companion in the 42 times that she left abroad in early 2000.

“Again, if they invoke, the process is, we will establish if they are invoking the right against self-incrimination properly or not. If the invocation is not proper, then we will rule that it is not proper,” Guingona explained.

Guingona said the Senate has formed the legal panel to identify the questions in the past hearings, and classify those questions if they infringe on the right against self-incrimination.

The guiding principle “is that you cannot be forced to be a witness against yourself,” Guingona said.

“It’s not very easy. You have to read the question again and find out if there is a case against them, and what are the elements of the crime that they are charged with and if there is a connection between what you are asked to answer and the elements of the crime,” Guingona explained.

‘No intent to disrespect Senate’

Ligot’s counsels Rafael Zialcita and Pocholo del Rosario, on the other hand, appealed to the Senate to lift the contempt charges against Ligot and release him from detention.

Zialcita said the former general is ready to attend the next hearing and that the Ligots promised to cooperate if their medical condition would allow.

“We decided that he will just give an appeal to the Senate Blue Ribbon committee more specifically Senator Guingona to lift the detention,” Zialcita said. 

“It was not his (Ligot’s) intent to disrespect the Senate,” he added.

Zialcita said they are not bringing the issue before the court until all efforts are exhausted at the Senate.

“I don’t really want to consider it until necessary. We are weighing our options first. What we are doing now is to appeal,” he said.

Del Rosario submitted the two-page letter appeal – signed by Ligot himself --addressed to Guingona yesterday. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile was furnished a copy of the letter.

“It was never my intention to evade any Senate hearing and/or disrespect the ongoing proceedings,” Ligot said.

“I have been actively attending the hearings dated January 27, February 3, February 7, February 18, February 24, March 3, March 10 and March 21, and that I cooperated in the investigation to the best of my ability without necessarily prejudicing my legal rights.

“As a matter of fact, it was only yesterday’s hearing that I failed to attend. I reiterate that I was not lying when I declared that I had the flu. Perhaps, at the time that I was being checked by the Senate doctors, the medicines were taking effect,” Ligot explained in his letter.

Ligot added there was never an instance that the Senate had to issue a subpoena to force him to attend the hearings. 

“In this regard, it is my appeal to you and the Honorable Senate that the detention order against me be lifted at the soonest possible time,” Ligot said.

“At the time that the Ligots invoked their rights against self-incrimination, we honestly believed that the invocation is proper. The question now is if and when the senators decide that the invocation was proper or not, if whether we will accept that,” Zialcita said. “But we will cross the bridge when we get there.”

Zialcita said he requested a copy of the so-called matrix of questions.

Asked for example about Mrs. Ligot’s refusal to name her “constant companion” in her travels abroad in early 2000, Zialcita said their honest assessment was that “it was proper invocation.”

An official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) yesterday urged Ligot to use his detention as an opportunity to think things over and cooperate with the Senate.

“My appeal to General Ligot is that he should participate in the investigation (on the military corruption),” Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said.

“How would we know the truth and implement changes in the system if those who are involved would not cooperate. He should show his love for the country. If he committed any irregularities then he should admit them,” he said.

On the other hand, anti-corruption advocate and former finance secretary Jesus Estanislao said it is unfair to judge the military because of the allegations against Ligot.

Estanislao said the new military leadership is committed to reforms and that significant changes have been implemented in the system.

“I think it’s unfair (to judge the military because of Ligot) because they have been doing quite a lot of things,” Estanislao said in an interview.

“I think what you have to do is put a timeline. (The incident involving) Gen. Ligot happened in the early 2000 and since then a lot of things have happened in the Armed Forces,” he added.

Estanislao believes the current military leaders are different from the top brass that were accused of irregularities.

“You have reform-minded officers who are now on top… they are putting into that pathway of succession guys who are really committed to reforms,” the former finance chief said. –With Alexis Romero, Evelyn Macairan