The chopper scam trial began Tuesday with a witness attesting that Mike Arroyo sold to the PNP two used aircraft as “brand new.” Helicopter distributor Archibald Po detailed to the Sandiganbayan how the then-first gentleman ordered from him five new units in Nov. 2003, only to sell two to the PNP in July 2009 still as “brand new.” Arroyo denies owning the helicopters, but documents were presented to buttress the testimony that he paid $1.5 million for them.
The sale as “brand new” came about despite flight and maintenance logs showing the choppers to have flown hundreds of hours so parts were replaced. The PNP purchase of old choppers is undisputed, precisely due to the logs.
The deal amounted to P105 million, including a third unit, a police patrol version, truly brand new. The pass-off of the two old units as “brand new” was overpriced by P34 million.
Indicted aside from Arroyo are 19 PNP generals and colonels, including retired chief Jesus Versoza, who negotiated the deal. Eleven of them were in active duty but consequently dismissed when Po exposed it in 2011. Trial unfolded a year-and-a-half after Arroyo was arraigned in Jan. 2013.
After Tuesday’s hearing Arroyo’s lawyer alleged to reporters that Po’s LionAir Corp. had evaded taxes. Po had registered the five choppers, on Arroyo’s say-so as real owner, in the name of Asian Spirit Airline, which at the time enjoyed tax holidays at the Clark Economic Zone.
At a Senate inquiry in 2011 Arroyo gave a document dissembling the mere lease of the aircraft by his late brother Ignacio. The helicopters were identified by the corresponding serial numbers.
The document was pooh-poohed as bogus, however. The “lease” date was prior to delivery of the five aircraft to the Philippines; meaning, they had yet to be received, reassembled, test-flown, and registered before being assigned the serial numbers. Too, the issuance date of the LionAir signatory-officer’s cedula incredibly was two weeks after the purported lease was notarized.
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With the Supreme Court voiding the presidential pork barrel Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), what next? Given the nature of Philippine politics, expect absurd twists and turns in the aftermath.
Like, anybody including ousted chief justice Renato Corona can file for impeachment of President Noynoy Aquino. Ground: culpable violation of the Constitution. Basis: the very SC ruling that the DAP unconstitutionally rechanneled Executive funds to Congress. P-Noy had admitted to allotting P13 billion of the P157-billion DAP as lump sums to selected senators and congressmen. The Charter allows agencies to realign budget savings only to other projects within the agencies.
Getting P-Noy impeached could be sweet revenge. P-Noy no less had led Corona’s impeachment and conviction in 2012 for multimillion-dollar unexplained wealth. He and family are now facing tax evasion and wealth forfeiture raps. Lawyer Oliver Lozano already is complaining to the House of Reps, as he has against practically every President.
Other grounds to impeach: corruption, bribery. Bases: Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla’s allegations that P100-million DAP lump sums to them were inducements to convict Corona. Nothing to lose in testifying to such. The two are presently detained, on trial for non-bailable plunder of their own congressional “pork.” It was P-Noy too who led their indictment and public vilification.
Dominated by P-Noy’s Liberal Party, the House may not impeach, much more the Senate convict, P-Noy. Then again, some members could push the “right buttons.” This would make Malacañang do as ex-president Gloria Arroyo did in her time. That is, dole huge sums of taxpayers’ money for the lawmakers to kill the impeachment. In which case, more funds would be pocketed. This would negate the very reason why good governance advocates sued against the presidential and congressional “pork” in the first place.
Now that would really infuriate the public. Incensed citizens could set fire to Congress. If arrested they could invoke “good faith,” the same way Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda justifies P-Noy’s concocting the DAP.
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Reacting to my series on rice price surges, readers basically were split between pitchers for improved harvests and seekers of alternatives to finite arable land, led by:
Dante Dizon: “Rice imports cause corruption and smuggling. And why enrich Vietnamese and Thai farmers over Filipino? Supposedly Vietnam and Thailand have more irrigated rice fields and less mouths to feed. Excuses! The solution is to increase productivity at lower costs than theirs through available technologies. Like, adopt hybrid rice, five croppings per two years, integrated nutrient management, and preventive nutrition to mitigate dreaded climate change. These will not require additional irrigation and maybe even upgrade them. Involve private sector for new technologies, with PhilRice and LGU rice technicians teaching farmers.
Rosauro Suarez: “At the Dept. of Agriculture during Marcos’ time, we were able to export rice only once (1975), despite the production inputs and other productivity enhancement measures: judicious of fertilizing, pesticides, high yield varieties from IRRI, irrigation, hiring agriculture technicians to educate farmers. Our population then was only 20 million. Today we’re 100 million. But we have not increased the area planted to rice. We have no new super-program to boost rice production like in Marcos’ time. So how can we be self-sufficient in rice? Since then, have we doubled or tripled our production? We should have quintupled it to feed our present population. It might be better for Sec. Francis Pangilinan to lessen Filipino rice consumption since we cannot increase the rice lands anyway, since we’ve reached the maximum possible. Maybe we should just improve our vegetable harvest, to balance our diets.”
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