Lacson: Gadon’s allegation on bribery is ‘pure hearsay’

Sen. Panfilo Lacson INQUIRER.net file photo

Senator Panfilo Lacson dismissed as “pure hearsay” on Monday a lawyer’s claim that an “oligarch” was planning to bribe senators to acquit Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno in her impeachment trial.

“Huwag kayo maniwala masyado kay Atty Gadon. Kasi puro nga hearsay yung kanya, e di lalong hearsay pa ito. ‘Yun nga tini-testify nya dun House puro hearsay, e ito chismis pa ito, di lalong hearsay. Baka triple hearsay yan,” Lacson said when sought for comment on lawyer Lorenzo Gadon’s allegation.

(Let’s not believe too much in Atty. Gadon because everything from him is hearsay, so this is also hearsay. What he’s testifying in the House is all hearsay, and this is just gossip, so the more it’s hearsay. It might even be triple hearsay.)

“In the first place, wala akong alam na kumakausap sa mga senador, wala akong nabalitaan. Maybe, you know, ito ang tact niya to put the senators on the spot if and when the articles of impeachment will be transmitted to us. Parang he’s already putting us on the spot para mag-convict kami rather than acquit,” the senator said.

(In the first place, I don’t know anything about anyone talking to senators; I didn’t hear anything about it. Maybe, you know, this is his tact to put the senators on the spot if and when the articles of impeachment will be transmitted to us. Like he’s already putting us on the spot to convict us rather than acquit.)

The impeachment complaint against Sereno is still being heard by the House of Representatives’ committee on justice.

And once the complaint reaches the Senate as an impeachment court, Lacson said he would ask Gadon to reveal the sources of his bribery allegation.

“Pagdating niya rito we’ll ask him kung sino tinutukoy niyang mga senador. Sino ang nagsabi sa kanya, saan niya nabalitaan. Sa ngayon ayoko pa maniwala sa kanya,” the senator added.

(When he comes here, we’ll ask him which senators he’s referring to. Who told him, where he found out about it. For now, I don’t want to believe him.)

Gadon, in a statement this Monday, claimed that a still unnamed oligarch promised to bribe some senators to absolve Sereno in the impeachment trial.

“Ang dinig ko babayaran daw nila ng P200 million ang bawat senador na boboto ng pagabswelto kay Sereno,” the lawyer was quoted in the report as saying.

(What I heard is they will pay P200 million each senator who will vote to absolve Sereno.)

READ: Gadon bares ‘bribery plan’ to acquit Sereno; CJ camp calls it ‘another big lie’