Choppers unlisted as Gloria’s assets

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star) Updated August 05, 2011 12:00 AM Comments (19)

When he needed delicate heart surgery in April 2007, then-first gentleman Mike Arroyo had it done in the Philippines. Big was his trust in Filipino doctors to see to his life threatening swollen aorta, he declared before going under the knife. Then-president Gloria Arroyo too was so at ease that she left Mike’s bedside to watch the signing in China of a $329-million broadband deal. Now Mike is in Hong Kong for mere post-op checkup. A seeming loss of faith in local medics notwithstanding, Mike’s lawyer says he will return to face two sizzling investigations in Manila. That is of course if the Chinese doctors let him, the lawyer quickly adds. Filipinos should not doubt it.

Mike has no reason to run, the lawyer says. Supposedly he has no direct link to poll rigging in Maguindanao in 2007, or to a falsified police purchase of used choppers as brand new in 2009. Even if corroborated by Lintang Bedol, the story of Zaldy Ampatuan is mere hearsay that Mike had asked his father Andal Ampatuan to zero out the votes for senatorial candidates Noynoy Aquino, Alan Peter Cayetano and Panfilo Lacson. As for the anomalous chopper deal, nowhere does Mike’s name appear in documents  yet.

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Still, Mike is boxed in, Lacson notes. If he admits as his the two used choppers sold to the Philippine National Police, then he will incriminate Gloria. For, never since purchase in 2004 were the aircraft listed in Gloria’s annual sworn statements of assets, liabilities and net worth. She would be charged with unexplained wealth. Under the law, Mike’s two other unsold choppers could be confiscated by the state, because hidden by his public officer-spouse. Gloria would also be charged with falsification of her SALNs and perjury.

In denying ownership, on the other hand, Mike also forfeits the two remaining choppers hangared at the Lion Air strip. Testifying at the Senate, Lion Air’s Archibald Po disowned the two units, saying they’re Mike’s so he’d willingly turn them over to the state. Po added that up to two weeks ago Mike paid Lion Air the monthly P10,000 per chopper for hangarage and periodic inspection. Remittances were made by Mike’s bookkeeper Rowena del Rosario. (Del Rosario was one of Gloria’s midnight appointees in April 2010 to the Pag-IBIG board, along with her personal manicurist and family gardener.)

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Twenty-seven PNP generals and colonels are also in dilemma. If they continue to cover up the true ownership of the used choppers, they would face non-bailable charges of plunder. The capital crime constitutes a combination or series of illegal acts, resulting to the government’s loss of at least P50 million.

A report of PNP Director General Raul Bacalzo shows that the officers had rigged two failed biddings, to give way to false negotiated purchase. They negotiated with a supplier, Maptra, incorporated only a month before with mere P212,000 paid-up capital. They awarded to Maptra, although it had insufficient capital and no track record, a P105-million contract. The only other supplier quoted a price only P2,000 less, a classic evidence of rigging. Midway into ne gotiations, the generals altered the specification from “brand new” to “service-center condition,” gobbledygook for “used”. They simulated test flights and inspections to make it look like they were on the ball. But they ignored the first thing in checking any aircraft’s condition: the flight logs that show the units to have 500 hours flying time. The pilots knew the choppers were Mike’s, for they had been flying the first family and friends in them since 2004, but said nothing. The generals issued certifications of mint condition from top down, instead of field inspectors reporting to immediate superiors  proof of orders from higher-ups to blindly accept the choppers. They also paid advances in violation of procurement laws. And the check releasing eluded the required rigorous accounting and auditing procedures.

If the officers talk, they can be made state witnesses and evade charges. Their careers would continue to advance, until they retire in peace. The only kink they would have to face is ostracism  for breaking the mistah omerta code of silence.

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Would immigration officials care to answer this complaint from reader Tony Martinez:

“Recently I came across a news item in the online edition of three Philippine newspapers. BID chief Ricardo David announced that hold departure orders, and watch-alert-blacklists are now posted in the BID website. Travelers whose names are on any of the lists may get clearance from the BID prior to departure date.

“I tried but failed for several days to find such lists in the website. After countless phone calls to the numbers listed there, someone finally picked up. She said the lists are posted already so I should be able to find them, then hung up.

“I requested a cousin who works near the BID head office in Manila to inquire in person. He reported that information officers at the building lobby told him that the only list posted is of persons whose names have been purged from the lists. Too, that the only way for a traveler to find out if his/her name is on any of the lists is to file an inquiry because only immigration officers have access to the lists. (I do not want to speculate on what is going on there, but having read your columns about this, it is difficult not to.)

“Why is it so hard to implement any reform in the public service?”

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com