GOTCHA, Published in The Philippine Star, Monday, February 11, 2008
Filipinos have had enough of people power revolts that amount to nothing. The 1986 EDSA gig merely restored the pre-martial law oligarchy, while the 2001 version toppled a President for a worse one in polls. That’s why people are asking where this implication of the First Couple to the ZTE scam will end. Malacañang adds to the confusion by claiming that the revelations of Joey de Venecia and Jun Lozada are part of a destabilization plot. The admin portrays the issue as one of bringing down President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, instead of one of criminal justice.
Sen. Francis Escudero, upon hearing Lozada tell of being held by admin goons against his will, already stated where this ZTE saga should lead. The airport managers who accosted Lozada, the four hoods who took him away and the cops to whom they turned him over, and the Cabinet and Palace officials who prevented him from testifying at the Senate should all be charged in court. Escudero listed just some of the crimes committed: kidnapping, coercion, obstruction of justice, and wiretapping. He might add more: subornation to perjury, disrupting legislative proceedings, impersonating a police officer.
First in line are airport bigwigs Angel Atutubo and Octavio Lina, who had taken Lozada at the air tube and given him to a fake cop. The impostor was Roger Valeroso, a retired officer who turned out to be one of the abductors. The group shoved Lozada into a car in which it listened in to the CB-radio conversations of Senate security officers. Col. Paul Mascariñas of the Police Security and Protection Office then forced Lozada and siblings to sign antedated requests for help. Before, during and after the abduction, Sec. Romy Neri, Sec. Lito Atienza and predecessor Mike Defensor, Deputy Executive Sec. Manuel Gaite, and lawyer Antonio Bautista pressured him either to lie to the Senate, snub its subpoena, or sign false affidavits. Human rights and state policies were violated.
Some of the principals even hinted at involvement of higher officials. Atienza supposedly told Lozada that “ES” and “Ma’am” were interested in his staying out of the country. “ES” is the known moniker of Executive Sec. Eduardo Ermita; “Ma’am” is President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo no less. They too could be charged.
Why, even the interloping Presidential Chief Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol should be sued for racial slurs against Chinese Filipinos. In jail with Lozada’s kidnappers, he could entertain them as court jester.
Another set of charges should be against those implicated in the ZTE overpricing: First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, Comelec chief Benjamin Abalos, contract signatory Sec. Leandro Mendoza, assistants Lorenzo Formoso and Elmer Soñeja, Ruben Reyes, Jimmy Paz, Leo San Miguel, and Gen. Quirino dela Torre, and their Chinese cohorts.
Then, there are NBI chief Nestor Mantaring and Special Task Force head Arnel Dalumpines, who participated in a coverup. In June they tried to implicate innocent people to a concocted theft of the ZTE contract.
Problem is, true justice isn’t moving. Justice Sec. Raul Gonzalez and Mantaring are set to file charges in relation to the ZTE scam — against whistleblowers de Venecia and Lozada. Meanwhile, the graft case against Abalos is gathering dust at the Ombudsman.
If so, an independent commission would do the job better. Without justice, the people power revolt that the admin so fears just might erupt.
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Uncovering of the ZTE sting has the Villaraza Angangco Law Firm worried. It’s not so much that one-time client First Gentleman Mike Arroyo was linked to the $200M kickback. It’s more because The Firm holds office in the same place he does — and so could be mistakenly targeted again by Arroyo foes. So as it welcomes back from government stints seven partners — led by Avelino Cruz and Simeon Marcelo — it might as well clarify who owns the LTA Bldg. on 118 Perea St. in Legaspi Village, Makati.
The site may be named after Mike’s mom, Lourdes Tuazon Arroyo, but he owns only about 20 percent, that is, one-and-a-half of nine floors. The Firm that will hereafter be called Villaraza Cruz Marcelo Angangco holds the biggest interest, having bought in the ’80s the three storeys it is occupying. That was when Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio was still the head partner.
Among the other tenant-owners are: Bank of P.I., Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, Philippine Wood Products Association, Bencille Corp., Cordym Realty Corp., De Castro Cagampang Law Office, Techtrade Asiaphil, and GG Mendoza & Sons Enterprises.
One dawn in Dec. 2005 creepy forces had fired high-powered weapons at the LTA Bldg., shattering glass windows and office equipment of the lower floors. A heretofore-unknown group of military officers called The Enlightened Warriors claimed responsibility for the attack, as a symbol of anger with the unearthed cheating in the 2004 presidential election. Strangely, the attackers had not fired high enough at the 8th floor that Mike is known to occupy, as exposed by Sen. Ping Lacson in the Jose Pidal series of Aug. 2003. They instead smashed the units of The Firm, ironically when lead partner Pancho Villaraza already had disengaged as Mike’s counsel.
Today Mike prefers to conduct business at his LTA space, although he has an office in Malacañang. He has to make it look like he does not meddle in the Office of the President. Testimonies on the ZTE scam to the contrary might spark new attacks on the LTA Bldg. So The Firm hopes they don’t take aim at its offices again.
