‘There’s no Arroyo in documents’

NO SIGNATURE Former First Gentleman Mike Arroyo denies owning helicopters sold to the PNP as brand new. JESS YUSON

Former First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo on Tuesday denied owning the two used helicopters sold as brand new to the Philippine National Police despite the testimony by a distributor of the choppers that he was the real owner of the aircraft.

Inocencio Ferrer Jr., Arroyo’s lawyer, said the name of his client did not appear in any of the documents presented by Archibald Po, the president of Lionair Inc., and Hilario de Vera, the president of Manila Aerospace Products Trading Corp. (Maptra), to prove that he was the beneficial owner of two preowned helicopters sold 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,” Ferrer said in a phone interview

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.

The United States has strict policies on companies engaged in corrupt activities, the lawyer said.

“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,” Ferrer said.

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 pointed out that when a senator asked him why all of the choppers were under the name of Lionair and not Arroyo, Po could not muster a decent reply.

“All the paper trail starts and ends with Archibald Po,” Ferrer said at a press conference a few hours after the end of the Senate hearing.

Ferrer said that Arroyo neither owned the aircraft nor received blank deeds of sale as claimed by Po who failed to submit any evidence to back up his allegations.

The lawyer said De Vera’s testimony showed that Po was the prime mover of the sale of the choppers to PNP as the Maptra official testified in the Senate that he did not even know Arroyo.

Ferrer accused Po of mentioning the name of Arroyo to get the PNP contract.