Bishop Cruz accuses Palace of bribing witnesses
'No more principles, morals, values'

First posted 00:38am (Mla time) Aug 08, 2005
By Christian V. Esguerra
Inquirer News Service


ARCHBISHOP Oscar Cruz yesterday accused Malacañang of bribing and harassing witnesses who had implicated President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo in election fraud and "jueteng" (illegal gambling) payoffs in a bid to remain in power.

"There are no more principles. There are no more values and morals. Everything is just about money, money, money," Cruz said in a telephone interview with the Inquirer and in a statement broadcast over the Church-backed Radio Veritas.

Cruz said Malacañang was either bribing or harassing witnesses in an attempt to repair the damage caused by their testimonies. He said the government had also resorted to buying their own witnesses to discredit damaging testimonies.

"Why is the administration so nervous and panicky that it will spare nothing to destroy jueteng witnesses?" said the 70-year-old prelate of Lingayen-Dagupan.

"What kind of government is this? Are we in a military state already? Witnesses are being threatened, the government is creeping to get them, all because some people want to remain in power," Cruz said.

Cruz's statement coincided with opposition claims that former Malacañang executive Datu Ahmad Bayam had earlier offered to corroborate the testimony last week of Michaelangelo Zuce linking Ms Arroyo to vote fraud and illegal gambling payoff -- charges the President, battling for political survival, had adamantly denied.

On Saturday, Bayam, escorted by police officers, turned around, the opposition said, and dismissed Zuce's allegations, including a document Zuce had produced saying that Bayam had endorsed the appointment of Virgilio Garcillano, of "Hello Garci" fame, as election commissioner for having "delivered every electoral pleasure of the administration" since the 1992 elections when he was still a regional official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Zuce's lawyer, Liwayway Vinzons-Chato, said she was stunned by Bayam's claim. She said Bayam had sought her and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay out last week to discuss his plan to corroborate Zuce's testimony.

She said Bayam even asked for P1 million in "financial assistance" to bring his family from Cotabato to Manila to protect them from harassment.

Twisting entire thing

"That's why I was surprised when I saw him on TV Saturday night denying that he knows Garcillano and accusing us of offering him money. That's twisting the entire thing," said Chato in a phone interview. "I can't call him a liar because he could be under duress."

In the face of Bayam's claims, Zuce remained unfazed and was standing by his entire testimony, she said.

"The more that they try to destroy him, the more he becomes determined. He said that no matter what they do, they can't suppress the truth, and that he would fight this to the end," Chato said of Zuce.

Bayam also disclosed that he had a copy of a memorandum on the conduct of consultations with Comelec officials which he himself prepared and which he claimed was approved by the President, Chato said.

"He was saying that the President should be removed since she's the cause of all problems and that he would prepare an affidavit corroborating Zuce's testimony," she said. "Mayor Binay and I were happy. We thought here was another God-given witness."

Cruz has led a citizens' crusade against jueteng that prompted the convening of the Senate inquiry into the illegal numbers racket that rakes in P50 million daily and provides payoffs to politicians and police and military officials.

Malacañang claimed that the opposition was behind the antigovernment testimonies presented in the Senate hearings, but Cruz had sought to deflect these allegations, saying the major witnesses had come to him out of a desire to stamp out jueteng and seek his protection.

The only damaging testimony given without Cruz's involvement was the statement last week by the 30-year-old Zuce, a former Palace functionary, who said he was forced to testify against Ms Arroyo for fear of his life.

Zuce's testimony

Zuce said he witnessed a meeting in Ms Arroyo's home in the posh La Vista subdivision in Quezon City sometime in January 2004 -- four months before the presidential election -- during which she allegedly appealed to regional directors and supervisors of the Comelec for help in the balloting.

After she left the gathering, money from the wife of alleged jueteng lord Rodolfo Pineda was distributed, Zuce said.

Zuce said former Isabela Governor Faustino Dy Jr. was also present at La Vista.

Yesterday, House Minority Leader Francis Escudero, in a telephone call to the Inquirer from California, said Dy would return to Manila from Los Angeles to "bare the truth."

Although Dy had been invited by the Senate to appear at the resumption of its hearing on Wednesday, the former governor said he would not show up during the inquiry but would testify at the impeachment trial of Ms Arroyo if the proceeding pushed ahead, according to Escudero.

He said Dy would testify "in favor of our search for truth."

Senator Manuel Villar Jr., chairman of the Senate investigation, said the chamber would conclude its inquiry if Dy fails to show up.

In Vigan City, Ilocos Sur Governor Luis "Chavit" Singson said Dy was still supporting Ms Arroyo.

"All talks saying Governor Dy would testify against the President are unfounded as these are mere creations of the political opposition," Singson said.

Administration lawmakers also ganged up on Zuce, saying the series of rebuttals from credible people, including documentary and testimonial evidence, had exposed Zuce as a "suborned," or bribed star witness of the opposition.

Representatives Mauricio Domogan (Baguio), Edwin Uy (Isabela) and Prospero Pichay (Surigao del Sur) said Zuce's claims had been shattered by Bayam's denial.

Archbishop Cruz said he had lost at least three witnesses who would have told the senators how Ms Arroyo benefited from jueteng. He said all had been bribed into silence.

In his count, Cruz did not include former jueteng bagman Richard Garcia who left his fold last week, tearfully telling reporters he wanted to return to a quiet life, and claiming opposition Senator Panfilo Lacson had told him to implicate the Arroyo family.

Fellow witness Sandra Cam said Garcia had received "a bag of money" from First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo in exchange for leaving Cruz's Krusadang Bayan Laban sa Jueteng and clearing the First Family.

Curiously, Garcia never directly linked any member of Ms Arroyo's family to the illegal numbers game when he appeared before the Senate. The meat of his testimony was how local government officials manipulated police officers who refused to ignore widespread jueteng operations in their areas.

"These kind of cases could be prevented if we would properly screen the witnesses before they appear in public hearings," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said in an interview with RMN radio.

Witnesses lost

Among the potentially explosive witnesses Cruz had supposedly lost was a Cabinet undersecretary who had initially contacted the bishop through another former government official, the prelate said.

As a "cabalen," or province mate, and a member of Ms Arroyo's inner circle, the man purportedly had direct knowledge of how jueteng lords helped finance her campaigns in the past. Cruz said this witness begged off at the last minute.

"I thought this administration has repeatedly pledged to clean the government of corruption and eradicate jueteng," he said. "But how come, instead of welcoming the jueteng probe, it wants it stopped and the witnesses discredited?"

Zuce, the first to claim publicly he witnessed the La Vista payoffs, is under fire for providing the most explosive and detailed testimony against the President so far, Cruz noted.

Also yesterday, Ernesto "Butch" Paquingan, a political consultant based in Cagayan de Oro City, told reporters that the camp of Senator Sergio Osmeña III, a client, had told him his testimony before the Senate was no longer useful to the opposition.

Zuce has said Paquingan helped him in his efforts to ensure Ms Arroyo's win in the balloting. But on Friday, Paquingan called Zuce a liar who had tried to enlist his support in Zuce's public appearance against Ms Arroyo.Paquingan said Zuce had told him the opposition had offered Zuce P4 million to P5 million to testify against Ms Arroyo.

Paquingan said he also got a call from Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, a former client, who told him he was concerned about Paquingan's safety. Paquingan said Romulo asked him if he was being forced to testify against Ms Arroyo.

Paquingan said Romulo advised him "to just tell the truth."