MANILA, Philippines?Four hours after returning from Russia, where he had been found carrying cash in excess of the legal limit and barred from taking a flight home, former Philippine National Police comptroller Eliseo de la Paz faced the media but left the big questions unanswered.

And it was made clear for the first time that the P6.9-million cash advance De la Paz carried to Russia as disbursing officer of a police delegation that attended the 77th Interpol General Assembly was on top of the P2.3-million travel allowance that the PNP had declared, and that its oversight body, the National Police Commission (Napolcom), had approved.

Napolcom had earlier wondered why the P6.9 million was not declared to it.

In a 15-minute press conference Tuesday afternoon at a restaurant on EDSA (Epifanio delos Santos Avenue), De la Paz said the P6.9 million had come from PNP coffers.

He also said he had served ?faithfully and honestly? in the PNP.

?As police comptroller and special disbursing officer of the top-level Philippine delegation ... I took out from my P10-million cash advance bonded authority the amount of P6.93 million, which I converted into 105,000 euros as the standby revolving fund for our official travel,? the retired police director said, reading from a prepared statement.

He added: ?I know that I have neither done anything illegal nor abused any of my positions throughout my career, let alone during these last few days in office.?

Prudence

De la Paz said the money was spent judiciously: ?I assure you that while our standby fund may seem large by the average standards, prudence had governed our expenditures, and the liquidation report that I will be submitting soon for scrutiny and approval by official auditors will bear that out.?

In an interview with the cable news channel ANC, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said De la Paz had the authority to make a cash advance of up to P10 million as an officer ?with approved financial obligation.?

De la Paz said he took P6.93 million out of the cash advance ?as standby fund for any contingency that will arise during the conduct of the meeting,? such as a health emergency. The Napolcom-approved P2.3 million was for the expected expenses such as airfare, accommodations, food and incidentals.

Asked whether he had ever issued as big a standby fund for any other official PNP trip, De la Paz said: ?We will look into our records.?

?Expensive country?

In all, De la Paz carried with him P9.2 million in cash to fund the expected and emergency expenses of the eight-member delegation sent by the PNP to the Interpol assembly in St. Petersburg.

?Russia is an expensive country ... It is a shock for tourists to find out rates in Moscow and St. Petersburg are just as expensive or even costlier than those in first-class cities,? he said, adding:

?It is not easy being on alien territory with nowhere to get immediate financial succor from, when an official delegation is confronted by ... medical emergencies or ... impromptu networking and meetings with fellow delegates.?

As to how much was left and whether the delegation had to spend for any contingency, reporters had no chance to ask.

De la Paz agreed to reply to only three questions and at one point told reporters that their questions might have been answered in earlier interviews with the PNP.

No other PNP official was beside De la Paz at the table where seven seats had been prepared for the press conference. But a police escort and two plainclothesmen were seen guiding him in and out of the venue.

Wired from Moscow

De la Paz was said to have wired from Moscow the balance of the fund to a special PNP account to spare himself the trouble of flying to Manila with the questioned cash.

?I have with me all the supporting documents to prove my innocence and clear my fellow delegates who had been unwittingly dragged into this controversy. These documents are the same papers that had been submitted to the Russian authorities to prove that the money was a legal fund for a legal purpose,? he said.

De la Paz arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at around 1:15 p.m. and was met by two officers of the PNP Aviation Security Group.

He told airport reporters he would answer questions at the press conference later in the day. ?I hope you understand. I thank you for being here but I want to see my family first to tell them I?m okay,? he said.

De la Paz was stopped at the Moscow airport on Oct. 11. He stayed an extra week in Moscow because Russian customs officers required documents to prove he was legally carrying the cash in excess of the $3,000 limit.

He was cleared to fly home after presenting a PNP travel authority and a certification of legal foreign currency exchange.

At the press conference, the first order of business for De la Paz was to apologize:

?I apologize deeply to our people and to our government for the untoward incident at the Moscow International Airport that last week touched off an international embarrassment for our country. I apologize too to my fellow delegates to the Interpol conference for having put them in an awkward position as a result of my misstep.?

He admitted to a ?lapse? and expressed regret for failing to declare the cash as he was leaving Moscow.

?Being accosted at a foreign airport for that infraction was doubly discomforting and upsetting for me, given that as a person devoted to law enforcement for almost 37 years, I should have been the one setting an example in abiding by official rules and regulations, whether here or abroad,? he said.

De la Paz also apologized to the media for entertaining only a few questions, and asked that he be excused to join his family.

2-person quorum

But he is not exactly home free because the Senate foreign relations committee chaired by Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago is poised to open an inquiry into the controversy on Thursday.

According to Santiago, she will proceed with the inquiry even if only she and Sen. Manuel ?Mar? Roxas II are in town because under the Senate Rules of Procedure, only two members are required to form a quorum for a committee hearing.

?Apparently, no other senator will attend the hearing because they are either abroad, out of town or have prior engagements,? she told reporters.

Congress is on a month-long recess that began on Oct. 8.

Santiago said she issued subpoenas on Monday to De la Paz and 34 ranking police and executive officials but that the Senate officer in charge, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, had refused to sign the papers.

She quoted Enrile as saying that he was only authorized to sign ?administrative matters.? She also said Enrile would ?reportedly? be abroad by Thursday.

She added that Sen. Pia Cayetano, who arrived Tuesday from Geneva where she attended the Inter-Parliamentary Union annual assembly, will approve the subpoenas ?on authority? of Senate President Manuel Villar, who is still in Europe.

Apart from the police officials who traveled to Russia with De la Paz, the others to be summoned include PNP Director General Jesus Verzosa, Interior Secretary Puno, Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya and Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, as well as the wives of Verzosa, De la Paz, Deputy Director General Emmanuel Carta and Director Jaime Caringal, who were part of the PNP delegation.

Santiago has issued subpoenas as well to officials of the Commission on Audit, Civil Service Commission, Manila International Airport Authority, Anti-Money Laundering Council, Securities and Exchange Commission and Insurance Commission.

?PNP affair?

Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said the Palace would not stop Puno or any other official from testifying at the inquiry.

?Of course, Malacañang will not do anything to prevent [the] ferreting [out] of the truth in any incident of the PNP,? he said.

According to Dureza, Puno and the police officials involved would submit themselves to the inquiry.

?We leave this now to the [concerned] agencies,? he said. ?This is a PNP affair, and they should take care of themselves.?

Even Sorsogon Rep. Jose G. Solis, a member the administration party Kampi (Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino) and a retired Army colonel, said Congress should look into the matter even during its break. With reports from TJ Burgonio, Michael Lim Ubac, Gil C. Cabacungan Jr. and Jerome Aning