Sen. Guingona: Iggy’s appearance at Senate may free detained ex-bookkeeper

MANILA, Philippines—By appearing at a Senate inquiry into the helicopter controversy, Negros Occidental Representative Ignacio “Iggy’’ Arroyo might just rescue an former bookkeeper of the Arroyo-owned LTA Inc. ordered detained by senators.

“That’s for him to accomplish,’’ Senator Teofisto Guingona III, chair of the blue ribbon committee, told reporters in an ambush interview at the Annabel’s restaurant in Quezon City.

The committee ordered former LTA bookkeeper Rowena del Rosario detained Monday afternoon over her “evasive’’ and “false’’ answers to senators’ questions on the lease agreement between the LTA and Lionair Inc.

Guingona said that Iggy, brother of former First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, was in the best position to answer senators’ questions over “discrepancies’’ of facts and figures in the lease agreement.

“(Iggy) interfered in our investigation. He claimed he leased the choppers. Now that we’re investigating it, he refused to appear. If he feels bad, I can assure him he will be given all the chance to explain,’’ he said.

The Senate is inquiring into the sale of second-hand helicopters passed off as brand-new to the Philippine National Police, including three helicopters purportedly owned by Mike Arroyo.

Iggy, however, recently claimed that it was he who signed a lease contract that allowed their family company LTA to use the helicopters for two months in 2004.

The lawmaker, who is undergoing treatment in London for a liver ailment, however, had balked at attending the hearing because of what he called the senators’ “political agenda.’’

Guingona said Del Rosario would continue to be detained at the Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms unless she became forthcoming with her answers.

“She will be detained until the senators are satisfied she’s not evading questions,’’ he said.

It was Senator Panfilo Lacson who moved to cite her in contempt after she claimed that the $500,000 that LTA wired to the Robinson Helicopter Corp. was an advance rental for helicopters, and not as payment for helicopters being purchased by LTA.

Twelve senators approved the motion in a caucus later in the day, and ordered her arrest and detention, a move decried by her lawyer.