Recently, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee submitted its  recommendation to the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate its report on the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Offife investigation we went through last July 2011.  The investigation committee was chaired by Sen. Teofisto “TG” Guingona III.

There is just no space in this column for me to explain each of the eight  points the Senate has submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman recommending a  re-investigation.

Obviously, the committee did not read all the documents we submitted in answer to the eight points which it had interrogated us on.  Now, they want the Office of the Ombudsman to do “the dirty job”.  Had the Committee read the documents we submitted in answer to all that they wanted us to answer, they won’t be at a loss.  Now, we have to resubmit them all to the Office of the Ombudsman again.

No wonder many do not get a fair shake from the Senate investigations at parang umaasa na lang sila kung ano ang kanilang pananaw without reading the written answers and documents submitted by those whom the Senators have investigated. But that’s not fair because sa hearings sa Senado, ang mga iniimbistigahan ay hindi makasagot ng sapat, for they cut you off if you answer them back.  

I understand how busy they are, but not to study very carefully the documents submitted to them by those they’ve prematurely accused is not fair.  It’s a great injustice.  Mabuti pa huwag na sila mag-entertain ng charges from those who are only after manira ng ibang tao just because they do not belong to the administration.

I will briefly answer some of the eight  points:

1. On     “electioneering,” the case has been submitted to the Commission on Elections  for resolution, filed against me by Juico’s lawyer, Atty. Bonifacio Alentajan.  

2. On “Excessive Public Relations/Advertising spending” against former PR manager Manuel Garcia, I had nothing to do with the PR Department, and the only thing we have in common is our first name “Manuel”  As PCSO director from 2004 to 2010, I absolutely had no access to the PR fund.

3. On the “Equipment Lease Agreement for PCSO’s online lottery system,” I only inherited the signed contract after the international bidding was conducted by my predecessor, PCSO chairman Mamita Pardo de Tavera, before I took over the PCSO as chairman in 1994.

The first contract was signed by chairman Pardo de Tavera in 1992/93; questioned by Kilosbayan headed by former Sen. Jovito Salonga who took the case to the Supreme Court and which the PCSO ultimately won in 1995.

It was the winning contract I signed after 17 months in the SC upon the order of the Office of the President. The PCSO is an agency attached  to the OP.

I am also not to blame for the extension in 2004, for the case went through due process. It was the Arbitral Tribunal which on Oct. 24, 2005 compelled the PCSO to honor the extension of the ELA and do away with the bidding.  The decision was penned by now Solicitor General Cadiz.

Therefore, to end this issue, please let the SG  Cadiz answer, not me.  I was only one of the PCSO directors with no powers to decide alone.

4. On the “possible conflicts of interest in relation to the properties of Manuel Morato,” what properties? There was only one property (not properties) the Senate committee insinuated I owned.  I did not own the property the Senate was referring to. It was an open corporation which I so happened to have owned some shares of stocks in.

I sold my shares of stocks. The board of directors and stockholders unanimously decided to end it.  It was under receivership with a receiver appointed by the court, for it was undergoing rehabilitation for several years. I was no longer active in the corporation since it was placed on rehab. It was the receiver managing the affairs of the corporation since 2004 and the sale.

The account in the bank that financed the project sold the account to another bank through SPV without our knowledge. The bank that bought the account, in turn, sold the account (not us) to Perdana with the approval of the court.  My only role was to request the court to see to it that all the creditors are paid.  Nothing else.  That I made money on the sale is false.  I lost in that transaction.

In all this, the court’s decision was handed down in December of 2009 or six months before I left the PCSO in June of 2010.  There was nothing on the table that I could have favored the Perdana as I was already winding up my work in the PCSO preparatory to my leaving office.

5.  On the “donations of vehicles to members of the Catholic Church,” that’s above-board based on the SC decision, “Estrada vs. Escritor,” that the separation of Church and state does not apply when it comes to charity work. The Church is a partner of the PCSO when it comes to charity work.

The “Pajero Bishops” scandal was concocted by Margie Juico to embarrass the bishops, which she announced in two leading TV stations and in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.  She was caught in the act and had the gall to deny.

God punished Juico for her lies when the five  vehicles returned by the bishops to the PCSO were destroyed in the PCSO parking lot of PICC during typhoon Pedring, submerged in salt water from Manila Bay. They have all been hidden by Juico on the empty lot of the PCSO in San Marcelino, away from the media.  Nasira lahat at itinambak na lang sa bakanteng lote ng PCSO sa San Marcelino. Sayang.  Ganyan sila maglaro sa PCSO ngayon.  No transparency whatsoever.  And to top it all, they try very hard to cover their tracks na baluktot na daan.

We have not received officially the copies of the Senate complaint filed in that Office of the Ombudsman.  Evidently, they disseminated copies to the media first instead of furnishing us. 

I got a copy, not from the Senate or the Office of the Ombudsman but from a TV station that interviewed me on what it is all about.  I could not go on interview before I read the Senate charges.  Thus, they provided me a copy to read prior to the interview.

Ganyan pala ang Senado kapareho lang ng PCSO ngayon: Publicity first para hindi kami makasagot.  Tama ba ‘yan?  Takaw naman nila sa publicity.  We must remember not to vote some of them come election day next year.

It might interest the public to know that the charges sent by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to the Office of the Ombudsman contained the following worth taking note of:

Sen. TG Guingona III signed and endorsed it.  Senators Miriam Santiago, Joker Arroyo, Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Edgardo Angara, Loren Legarda, Allan Cayetano, and Manny Villar did NOT sign.  Senators Chiz Escudero, Pia Cayetano, Ralph Recto, Vicente Sotto, and Gregorio Honasan signed but “with reservation”.  Senators Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada, Sergio Osmena III, Panfilo Lacson, Aquilino Pimentel III, Francis Pangilinan, Antonio Trillanes IV, and Franklin Drilon signed it.

No signature from Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.  Strange!