EDITORIAL - Where are Ricaforte, Pineda?

If the administration seems to be losing the battle for hearts and minds in the jueteng scandal, it can heap much of the blame on itself and its supposed allies. Since Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson came out with his accusations of jueteng payoffs to President Estrada, the administration has looked like a stunned child clumsily trying to make a denial after being caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

There was the House of Representatives, where administration party members shouted down Singson’s attempt to tell his story. There were the two senators so close to the President they have become his constant traveling companions abroad – Tessie Aquino-Oreta and John Osmeña – admitting they accepted P1 million each as gifts or balato from Singson after a mah-jongg session, no questions asked, as well as former presidential spokesman Fernando Barican, who got P100,000. There’s professional gambler Charles "Atong" Ang, not exactly the type you’d like as your defender if you’re President of the Philippines, but who has emerged as the Chief Executive’s biggest defender against Singson.

Finally, there are the people who could easily refute Singson if his accusations are truly mere hallucinations: Yolanda Ricaforte, wife of a tourism under-secretary; alleged gambling lord Rodolfo "Bong" Pineda; and Jose Jaime Policarpio, the President’s liaison to the legislature who, like Oreta, Osmeña and Barican, is in a ledger listing alleged recipients of payoffs from jueteng operations. Airport records show that Ricaforte and Pineda left the country separately for the United States on the same day that Senate Minority Leader Teofisto Guingona delivered a privileged speech disclosing the salient points of Singson’s accusations against the President.

Singson claimed Ricaforte acted as the President’s auditor of jueteng payoffs and was the one who prepared the ledger. Pineda, on the other hand, was reportedly present when Singson and Ang gave the President, the First Lady and their son Jinggoy a total of P105 million at their home on Polk street in San Juan. What’s Ricaforte doing in the United States? No one is sure. And Pineda? His wife said he needed to have his blood pressure checked and get a hair transplant. As for Policarpio, he checked into a hospital for high blood sugar.

You’d think these people would be rushing to prove Singson the craziest liar that he’s being pictured to be by the President’s supporters. Disappearance from public scrutiny merely reinforces perceptions that they have something to hide and Singson’s allegations are true. If the administration wants to clear the President’s name and restore the dignity of his office, it should not wait for a congressional summons or an extradition request for these people to surface and shed light on the truth.