Whistle-blower spares Mike Arroyo in statement

Senior Supt. Rafael Santiago, Jr., the police officer who blew the whistle on the operation to steal election returns from the Batasang Pambansa in 2005, on Thursday submitted a sworn affidavit to the Department of Justice in which he claimed that Zambales Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. knew of the raid and was the one who introduced him to an election operator.

His affidavit, however, made no mention of Jose Miguel Arroyo, the husband of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Santiago said he had no personal knowledge of Arroyo’s alleged participation.

“We didn’t see him (Arroyo). But try to study who will benefit from this. It’s not the Filipino people,” he said.

Financier

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima earlier said that Santiago mentioned a certain “FG” as the one who had allegedly funded the Batasan operation. “FG,” for First Gentleman, were the initials used to refer to Arroyo when his wife was the President.

De Lima told a press conference that the person from whom Santiago heard about “FG’s” alleged involvement had already submitted a sworn affidavit which she was still “vetting”. She declined to identify the person.

At a press conference, Santiago gave a power point presentation which detailed how the Batasan raid was carried out. He presented five short video clips that showed people going in and out of what appeared was the storage warehouse of ballot boxes at the Batasang Pambansa south wing.

Santiago answered the allegations that he stole firearms and equipment from the Zambales police district office and that he has a pending extortion case.

‘I’m no thief’

“I would be stupid to come out if I have a closet of skeletons or whatever. This is expected. The worse we can expect actually is they physically eliminate us,” he said.

“I am not a thief,” he said.

Santiago said he was unceremoniously relieved as the Zambales provincial director last month “without even paying (me) a small courtesy.”

“They treated me like I am a plebe,” he said. Santiago belongs to the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1986.

His lawyer, Victor Rodriguez, said the timing of the allegations was questionable, “the only purpose is to water down his credibility”.

Santiago is being investigated for theft and suspected links to illegal mining operations in Zambales.

Senior Supt. Wendy Rosario, the acting Zambales police director, said he started a probe into missing items in the police camp after assuming the post previously held by Santiago.

Among the missing items are 30 electronic bikes worth P45,000 each, Kevlar vests and helmets, rifles, computers and pieces of evidence like ammonium nitrate and detonation cords. Some items donated to the police were also missing, Rosario said.

Rosario insisted the investigation was not related to Santiago’s expose of election irregularities, in which he implicated Ebdane, the Philippine National Police chief at the time.

Illegal mining link

Rosario also belied Santiago’s allegations of harassment by Chief Insp. Rogelio Peniones, an aide of Ebdane.

“[Peniones] is not part of the investigation. He has nothing to do with this. We have to conduct an investigation to find out who is responsible for this (missing police property),” he said.

An official of the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PMRB) said the board is also looking into Santiago’s alleged links to illegal mining activities in the province.