Joker cool to Impsa
probe but will do job
Ping: Panel should take opportunity to question ‘MJ’
BY JP LOPEZ
THE Senate Blue Ribbon committee is hesitant
in reviving its investigation into the alleged $14 million
payoff made by an Argentine company to some government
officials, but will nonetheless conduct an inquiry if directed.
Sen. Joker Arroyo, committee chair, said the
Ombudsman has already acquired jurisdiction over the alleged
bribery by Impresas Metalurgicas Pescarmona SA (Impsa) in
relation to its contract to rehabilitate the
Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan hydroelectric plant complex.
"The danger is that, supposing the findings
of the Blue Ribbon committee turn out to be different from the
findings of the Ombudsman, it would just put us all in an
awkward situation," he said.
Nani slams Gutierrez for
playing prober and prosecutor
FORMER justice secretary Hernando Perez
yesterday asked the Ombudsman to reconsider its decision
recommending the filing of charges of extortion, graft, and
falsification of public documents against him, his wife Rosario,
brother in law Ramon Arceo and business associate Ernest Escaler.
He assailed Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez
for taking on the roles of investigator and prosecutor in the
case, "a role foreign to her in a preliminary investigation."
The Ombudsman‘s recommendations stemmed from
the case filed by former Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez who accused
Perez of extorting $2 million from him in February 2001.
PRESIDENT Arroyo yesterday said the
Philippines is capturing a moment of glory with its hosting of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (Asean) and East Asian
summits in Cebu.
Arroyo, accompanied by husband Jose Miguel
Arroyo and daughter Lourdes Evangelina, arrived at the Mactan
International Airport shortly before 11 a.m. for the 12th Asean
summit.
