Mike Arroyo pinned down by secretary’s word

THE TESTIMONY of Rowena del Rosario (left), a former bookkeeper of LTA, showed the money trail that, Senate probers said, led to Mike Arroyo (right). INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

A bookkeeper of Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo provided one of the strongest pieces of evidence linking the husband of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the sale of secondhand helicopters he allegedly owned to the Philippine National Police.

The blue ribbon committee chairman, Senator Teofisto Guingona III, said Rowena del Rosario, who spent three days in detention for refusing to cooperate with senators investigating the sale of old helicopters passed off as brand-new to the PNP, “established the money trail and ownership” of the units.

Guingona and Senators Panfilo Lacson and Aquilino Pimentel III Thursday disclosed the contents of a blue ribbon committee report linking Arroyo and 18 others to a “scheming conspiracy” to defraud the government with the sale of two old Robinson R44 Raven I helicopters at brand-new prices to the PNP in 2009.

The two helicopters sold to the PNP were part of the five choppers that Arroyo bought for the election campaign of his wife in 2004, according to whistle-blower Archibald Po, president of Lionair Inc. Lionair is the exclusive distributor of Robinson helicopters in the country.

Armed with the committee report, Senators Guingona, Lacson and Pimentel filed a complaint against Arroyo, former Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno and former PNP Director General Jesus Verzosa in the Office of the Ombudsman over the helicopter scandal.

The complaint also named as respondents 16 others for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and the Government Procurement Reform Act for defrauding the government of P62.7 million.

In an interview, Guingona said Del Rosario was helpful in pinning down Mike Arroyo. “If you remember, she did establish that the $500,000 (downpayment for five choppers) came from the Arroyos and was paid to Robinson (Helicopter Company or RHC in 2003) in the USA,” he said.

Guingona said that was one of the testimonial and documentary evidence received by the committee. “She had established a money trail and the ownership because why would you pay $500,000 to the manufacturer of helicopters in the US? That means you’re buying the helicopters,” Guingona said.

Morales received complaint

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales personally received the three-page complaint from the three senators in her office at around 2 p.m.

Through the complaint, the three senators referred the committee’s findings on what it called the “fraudulent, anomalous and irregular acquisition” by the PNP of two helicopters from Manila Aerospace Products Trading Corp. (Maptra) for preliminary investigation.

The senators also urged the Ombudsman to investigate the possible criminal liability of Negros Occidental Representative Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo over his alleged attempt “to cover up Mike Arroyo’s ownership and participation in this anomalous transaction.”

Records show the PNP paid P105 million supposedly for three brand-new helicopters. However, Maptra, Lionair’s marketing agent, received only P62 million after it delivered one fully equipped Raven II and two standard Raven I helicopters that had clocked an average of 500 hours of flying time.

Po claimed that Arroyo took $700,000 (around P31.5 million at the exchange rate of P45 to $1) from the sale, according to Guingona.

Not plunder

Asked why Arroyo was not charged with the nonbailable offense of plunder similar to the case filed against him by the PNP, Guingona said the charge required pocketing at least P50 million.

“The amount of $700,000 at that time, even if you multiply it by P45, by P55 (to a dollar) would not add up to P50 million,” he said.

The complaint would “go through the regular course” but would likely be prioritized by Morales, a retired Supreme Court justice appointed by President Benigno Aquino III to replace Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, according to Ed Diansuy, Ombudsman director for the media affairs bureau.

“This will be treated with priority,” he said.

Other respondents

The other respondents were Miguel Coronel, Oscar Valenzuela, Conrado Sumanga Jr., Luizo Cristobal Ticman, Ronald Dulay Roderos, Romeo Capacillo Hilomen, Leocadio Salva Cruz Santiago Jr., Ermilando Villafuerte, Roman Loreto, Jefferson Soriano, Herold Ubalde, Luis Salagumba, Job Nolan Antonio, Edgar Paatan, George Piano and Crisostomo DL Garcia. All are either current or former officers of the PNP.

In the complaint, the senators said Po and Maptra president Hilario de Vera had applied for inclusion in the government’s Witness Protection Program.

Convincing testimony

To back their case, the senators banked on the “clear and convincing” testimony of Po, which was corroborated by De Vera, Editha Solano-Juguan, Domingo Lazo, Claudio DS Gaspar Jr. and Rowena del Rosario.

Po, in his original and supplemental affidavits, pointed to Arroyo as the true owner of the five helicopters, the senators said.

“Analyzing closely the flow of events from the time of the involved helicopters’ importation by Lionair Inc. up to the time of its anomalous and fraudulent sale by Maptra to the PNP, we find the testimony of Po to be clear and convincing—thus worthy of credence,” they said.

The committee’s findings and discussion of the events were attached to the complaint.

Guingona dismissed claims by Mike Arroyo and his lawyer Inocencio Ferrer that the blue ribbon committee had failed to find any evidence proving that the husband of the former President had owned the two helicopters sold to the PNP for P20 million each.

In a phone interview, Guingona said a copy of the telegraphic transfer to the manufacturer made via Unionbank also indicated the landline number of LTA Inc., the Makati-based company owned by the Arroyo family.

“This number jives with the LTA records in the (Securities and Exchange Commission),” the senator said.

“And while Rowena said the $500,000 was only supposed to be payment for the lease of the helicopters, she admitted during her testimony that she was the one who sent the money to California,” Guingona added.

Iggy’s claim nonsense

In her testimony on August 22, Del Rosario echoed claims made by Iggy Arroyo that he was the one who entered into a contract worth P9.8 million with Lionair for the two-month lease of five Raven I helicopters at the height of the 2004 presidential election.

Po earlier told senators that his company had kept a fleet of five Raven I choppers owned by Mike Arroyo in its Pasay City hangar since 2004.

Po said two of these helicopters were sold to the PNP in 2009 when the police procured three brand-new helicopters as part of its crime prevention efforts.

Guingona said Iggy’s claim of a lease contract to dispel ownership by his brother was kalokohan (nonsense).

“RHC is a manufacturer and seller of helicopters. Why would Rowena pay a lease contract to it?  Clearly, what she paid for was not a lease,” the senator said.

Maintenance fees

Guingona and Lacson, in separate statements, noted Lionair collection agent Editha Solano-Juguan’s testimony that she regularly visited Arroyo’s office in the LTA Building on Perea Street in Makati City to collect maintenance fees for the five choppers owned by Arroyo.

“Lionair kept a subsidiary ledger in the name of Mike Arroyo showing he paid for the maintenance expenses of the helicopters. This was corroborated by Juguan’s testimony because at one point, she said the fees even reached P1 million for repair expenses,” Guingona said.

Lacson, in a text message, said there were “vouchers and payments made to Lionair by FG (popular reference to Mike Arroyo) up to May 26, 2011, to support the testimonies of Editha Juguan.”

Guingona recalled that Juguan had narrated that she counted the payments for monthly maintenance fees, averaging P350,000, “in front of Rowena and in full view of Mike Arroyo, who was only in the next door office.”

Flight logs

The three senators also said flight logs of the helicopters sold to the PNP provided a link to the Arroyos.

“A paper trail is not the only means to prove ownership. Control, use and income from the (helicopters) owned may also be (considered) evidence of ownership,” Pimentel said in a text message.

Eleven senators have so far signed the committee report—Guingona, Lacson, Pimentel, Sergio Osmeña III, Francis Pangilinan, Antonio Trillanes IV, Franklin Drilon, Ralph Recto, Francis Escudero, Pia Cayetano and Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada.

Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano had indicated his interest in signing the report, Guingona said.

Normally, a committee report is presented to the plenary session for a vote. This was not followed in the case of the report submitted to the Ombudsman.

Airtight case

Before they went to the Ombudsman, Guingona said he, Lacson and Pimentel were submitting the report “in our individual capacities as citizens and senators.”

“At most, the blue ribbon report is recommendatory and highly persuasive but not binding,” Guingona said.

He said everything was based on documentary and testimonial evidence. “We are very confident. This is an airtight case.”