Mrs. Ligot names Mrs. Reyes in trips

MANILA, Philippines -  The jetsetting wife of beleaguered former military comptroller Gen. Jacinto Ligot named yesterday the wife of the late Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes as her frequent companion in various travels abroad during their husbands’ terms in early 2000.

Pressed to answer questions from Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, Erlinda Ligot confirmed that her frequent companion was a certain “Dara” who was believed to be Reyes’ wife Teresita.

“Sabi po ninyo kilala ninyo yung constant companion ko, puede po sabihin ninyo at sasagutin ko nalang po kung ano (You said you know who is my constant companion, if you can identify her I will tell),” said Mrs. Ligot, eliciting laughter from the other resource persons and spectators at the gallery.

But Estrada seemed exasperated by Mrs. Ligot’s attempt to derail the proceedings and make funny statements that tended to skirt the topic.

He showed Mrs. Ligot’s travel records from the Bureau of Immigration that revealed she traveled 43 times from 1999 to mid-2000. Thirteen times she traveled with Mrs. Reyes, and they were together 10 times coming back to the country.

“I cannot recall the specific dates,” Mrs. Ligot said, prompting Estrada to narrate one by one the foreign trips of Mrs. Ligot and Mrs. Reyes, mostly to Los Angeles, California.

“I cannot recall if we traveled together,” Erlinda said, asking further in Filipino if the senator compared their travel records.

“Alam mo, wag mo na lang kaming pagtawanan dito, kasi (You know you should not make fun of us here) we mean serious business here,” a more serious Estrada told Mrs. Ligot.

“I am sorry, your honor,” Mrs. Ligot said at once, apparently trying to prevent a possible order of her detention at the Senate. She has been cited for contempt because she failed to attend the hearing last week.

The Senate had cited the Ligot couple for contempt for feigning sickness, but only Gen. Ligot was detained after the senators gave more leeway to his wife “for humanitarian reasons.”

Mrs. Reyes was earlier identified through her real name and nickname in the past hearings by former military budget officer George Rabusa as the constant travel companion of the generals.

Estrada was surprised over Mrs. Ligot’s answer because the general earlier testified that his wife does not inform him nor ask his permission whenever she traveled abroad.

Mrs. Ligot later admitted shopping in Singapore and Hong Kong, but she was unsure on who paid for the foreign trips. “Mas marami po siguro (There were more) personal (trips) kaysa sa official (trips),” she added.

She said she used her travel mileage points to get free trips to the United States, and she personally paid for four of her trips.

Mrs. Ligot said she was not privy to information on the rest of her trips. She also identified a certain “Amy Sales” as one of her travel companions.

Rabusa had testified in the past hearings that allowances and perks were also given also to the wives of generals during their local and foreign travels.

Interviewed after the hearing, Estrada said he did not mention the real name of “Dara” out of respect for the late AFP chief and later Defense Secretary Reyes, who committed suicide last February at the height of the Senate’s inquiry into the pasalubong (welcome gift) and pabaon (sendoff gift) and other forms of cash conversion at the Armed Forces during his tenure.

“It goes without saying,” Estrada told reporters.

Unlike in the past hearings when the couple repeatedly invoked their rights against self-incrimination and privacy on questions regarding their properties and multimillion-peso and dollar bank accounts, the Ligots provided more detailed answers this time.

Combined, the couple invoked the right against self-incrimination at least seven times.

Mrs. Ligot also admitted the names Erlinda Ligot and Erlinda Yambao were one and the same person, but she invoked her right against self-incrimination anew when asked why the property in Anaheim, California was sold after documents showed that the transaction was made between the same person.

When confronted over another house in Stanton Avenue, California, Mrs. Ligot also invoked her right against self-incrimination.

She, however, denied knowledge of another house - a wrong one that was deliberately presented by Estrada.

Gen. Ligot goes home

After five days in Senate custody, the Senate released Gen. Ligot after he answered some questions on what properties he acquired after his marriage to Erlinda.

He then invoked his right against self-incrimination when asked about the properties he acquired while he was comptroller because such were subject of a forfeiture case.

“We are releasing (you) from the custody of the Senate on the condition that you will cooperate in the future when we call you,” Sen. Teofisto Guingona III told Gen. Ligot, who expressed gratitude to the senator with a promise that he will be present in the next hearings.

“Sana sa susunod hindi na kayo makalimot ulit ha (Next time I hope you will no longer be forgetful),” Estrada added before the hearing was temporarily suspended.

The committee issued a release order and Gen. Ligot was allowed to go home with his wife after a medical checkup last night.

At the start of the hearing, the Ligot couple appealed for the indulgence of the Senate.

Minority Leader Sen. Alan Cayetano urged the couple to spill the beans on somebody or other persons possibly in higher position in the government who may have been involved in the massive cash conversion in the AFP.

“I don’t believe that you are the biggest fish, we believe that there is somebody else higher than you,” Cayetano added.

“Despite how you feel, we have to know the truth,” Cayetano said. “How can you travel many times during that time? How were you able to acquire that much deposits?”

“We want to show compassion to you but you have to talk with each other,” Cayetano said.

In his opening statement, Guingona, Blue Ribbon committee chairman, said the Senate hearings might have been taking “too long” that some parties may have “unnecessarily dragged by those who find it to their personal benefit to make of discovering the truth next to impossible.”

“Many of our countrymen share that sense of exasperation,” Guingona said. “But move on, we must. We must take one more single step today. That is the trust reposed on our shoulders by our countrymen. That is trust we cannot betray,” Guingona said.

At the start of the hearing, Sen. Franklin Drilon lashed out at the Ligot couple for continuously evading questions pertaining to their alleged illegal wealth acquired during Gen. Ligot’s time as comptroller when the late Defense Secretary Reyes was AFP chief.

Drilon said the more the Ligots evade the senators’ questions, “the deeper you sink into the quagmire of shame and disgrace in the eyes of our people.”

“They do not see innocence, not even cleverness, each time you dodge our questions. What they see is a vain attempt to deceive the Filipino people. I warn you that the more you continue to do that, the more you fuel their anger,” Drilon said.

Drilon also warned the couple’s lawyers “that they are not doing their clients and our country a favor by taking advantage of the weaknesses of the system in order to hide the truth.”

Drilon said the Sandiganbayan has only filed cases pertaining to about P135 million in cash deposits and certain real properties, which are just a fraction of the more than P740 million in dollar and peso denominations that were deposited in various bank accounts from 2001 to 2005.

The senator also bared that the Ligots have invested about P30 million in bonds aside from the P740 million which were traced to them by the Anti-Money Laundering Council.

Drilon asked Gen. Ligot if he “recalls” having transferred to Elma Yambao $100,000 on July 9, 2003 and to Elsa another $100,000 on the same date.

“I cannot recall your honor,” Ligot said.

The senator said the transfers were made from dollar accounts with Citibank under account number 8-143020-917, wherein Gen. Ligot invoked his right against self-incrimination.

“I’ll accept that,” Drilon said.

Drilon then turned to Mrs. Ligot, first asking if she recalled having ties with Meridien Development Group, which she denied knowledge of.

“Is it not a fact that you purchased Essensa apartment Lawton Tower Unit 19-A from Meridien Development Group in 2001,” Drilon said, which prompted Mrs. Ligot to invoke her right against self-incrimination.

She said the property was the subject of a forfeiture case.

Drilon early on bared that the Ligots bought the Essensa property for P25 million in 2003.

But the 290-square meter unit with three parking spaces was transferred to Mrs. Ligot’s brother, Edgardo Yambao, who was also grilled at the Senate on suspicion that he was used as a front by the Ligot couple in hiding their alleged illegal wealth.

During yesterday’s continuation of the Senate hearing on the alleged corruption in the military, Drilon also revealed that Mrs. Ligot invested in some bonds and stocks.

Mrs. Ligot prematurely revealed that she invested in San Miguel stocks sometime in 1976 while she was still single.

Mrs. Ligot invoked her right anew when Drilon asked if she invested in bonds at Deutsche Bank. “But it’s incriminating, your honor,” she said when told that the bonds were not included in any forfeiture case. Drilon did not insist.

Citing bank records, Drilon revealed that Mrs. Ligot “purchased investment instruments” from Deutsche Bank on July 23, 2003 in the amount of $600,000 and $100,000, both with maturity on July, 23 2013.