Palace appeals to Senate: Cancel all probes this week

First posted 01:32am (Mla time) Sept 28, 2005
By Juliet Labog-Javellana
Inquirer News Service

APPARENTLY "rattled" by the spate of inquiries lined up by the Senate, Malacañang has asked the chamber to cancel its investigations into various alleged government anomalies scheduled for this week, a Senate source said yesterday.

The source said the Palace was asking for a "blanket cancellation of all hearings this week."

Malacañang's letter carrying the appeal was being sent late yesterday to Senate President Franklin Drilon and to the concerned committee chairs, the source said.

The appeal followed a meeting between President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and members of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC).

Among those who attended the LEDAC meeting were Drilon and Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan -- both of whom have called for Ms Arroyo's resignation - -Senate President Pro Tempore Juan Flavier and Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Manuel Villar, Manuel “Mar” Roxas II and Ralph Recto.

"Malacañang is getting rattled because of the successive investigations by the Senate," was how the source explained the reason for Malacañang's request.

As a result, Santiago cancelled at the last minute the hearing of the foreign relations committee on the controversial government contract with the US firm Venable LLP on lobbying for US congressional funding for Charter change.

Biazon unstoppable

"No comment," Senator Rodolfo Biazon said when asked if he had received Malacañang's request.

But Biazon said the hearing of his committee on national defense and security on the "Hello, Garci" wiretap controversy would push through at 10 this morning.

"I have already scheduled it so it will be held," said Biazon, who has also called for Ms Arroyo's resignation in the wake of the wiretap scandal.

Drilon said he had not received the letter or request from Malacañang. Thus, he said, the Senate committee of the whole would proceed with its investigation on Thursday into the allegedly overpriced Northrail project.

Heeding an ally

A source said Santiago complied with Malacañang's request "as an ally" of the President.

But Santiago told reporters her hearing was cancelled because the resource persons were not available "on short notice."

An hour earlier, Santiago's staff said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez and Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo had confirmed their attendance at the hearing scheduled for this afternoon.

Santiago's committee wanted to investigate the foreign policy aspect of the Venable contract, that is, whether it is an international agreement that needs Senate ratification.

National security

The suspended Senate blue ribbon probe into the deal dwelt, among others, on who had authorized National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales to sign the contract.

The Venable hearing was one of three major investigations scheduled by the Senate for this week.

Biazon's committee on national defense and security will inquire into the so-called "Garci tapes."

The tapes are purportedly recordings of conversations between Ms Arroyo and former Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano about an alleged conspiracy to rig the 2004 presidential election.

Generals summoned

Unlike a previous House of Representatives inquiry into the tapes, which focused on their authenticity, Biazon's committee will deal with the national security implications of the wiretapping.

For the 10 a.m. hearing, Biazon has summoned, among others, Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Generoso Senga, Vice Admiral Mateo Mayuga, AFP inspector general; Rear Adm. Tirso Danga, deputy chief of staff for intelligence, and Brigadier General Marlu Quevedo, chief of the military intelligence service.

"I consider this a breach of national security. We have to raise the question [of] who wiretapped the President and probably for what purpose," Biazon told reporters.

On Thursday, the Senate is scheduled to convene as a committee of the whole to investigate the allegedly overpriced Northrail project funded by the Chinese government.

Asked if he would yield to Malacañang's request should he receive the letter, Drilon said: "I will wait for the letter."

Jueteng, too

Drilon and other senators earlier said the Senate would pursue its investigation into the Venable deal, the wiretap controversy, "jueteng," Northrail and the raid on the house of opposition document expert Segundo Tabayoyong.

Cleansing the AFP

"We will take up the cudgels for the opposition," Villar said.

Biazon said his committee's inquiry would also look into the "implications" of the mentioning of the names of military generals in the Garcillano tapes.

He said active military officers had raised concerns that these officials might have been used as "instruments" in the commission of electoral fraud. With a report from TJ Burgonio