MANILA, Philippines—Jose Miguel “Mike”Arroyo denied owning the helicopters sold to the Philippine National Police following a testimony by a businessmen that the former first gentleman was the true owner of the controversial choppers.
In a phone interview, Arroyo’s lawyer Inocencio Ferrer Jr. said the name of Arroyo does not appear in any of the documents presented by Archibald Po, president of Lion Air president, and Hilario de Vera, president of Manila Aerospace Products Trading Corp., to prove Arroyo owned the two pre-owned helicopters that were passed off as new to the PNP.
“We listened to their testimonies, especially that of Archibald Po, and it appears that he just wants to drag the name of Mr. Arroyo to this case. We will file a complaint of perjury against him for certifying to a fact that is not true,’’ said Ferrer.
Ferrer said Po could also face other charges such as misrepresenting Maptra as the exclusive marketing agent of the Robinson choppers without the express consent of the American manufacturer. Ferrer said that the US has strict policies on companies engaged in corrupt activities.
“As the marketing agent, whatever his company (Maptra) did will affect the principal (Robinson). The act of the agent is the act of the principal,’’ said Ferrer.
He accused Po of selective memory lapses when he failed to answer senators, who wanted him to elaborate further on his deal with Arroyo and De Vera. “He had enough time to prepare his affidavit, so how come he could not answer these simple questions of fact immediately?’’ Ferrer asked.
Ferrer pointed out that when a senator asked Po why all of the helicopters were under the name of Lion Air and not Arroyo, the businessman could not muster a decent reply.
“All the paper trail start and end with Archibald Po,” said Ferrer in a press conference a few hours after the end of the Senate hearing.
Ferrer said Arroyo did not own the aircraft nor received blank deeds of sale as claimed by Po, who failed to submit any evidence to back up his allegations.
Ferrer said De Vera’s testimony showed that Po was the prime mover of the sale to PNP as the Maptra official testified that he does not even know Arroyo. Ferrer accused Po of “namedropping,” saying the businessman used Arroyo’s name to get the PNP contract.