[PHNO-sb] THE INSIDE STORY OF JUETENGATE
Lee Quesada
(Warning to our PHNO readers: This is a very long
Press Release)
Quezon City, Nov. 4, 2000, Saturday (Reprinted from the
Philippine Star by Tingting Cojuangco) - How lucky can one
get? Many years ago, a dictator was raping and looting our
land. He controlled the parliament, the judiciary and the
local governments. The economy was floundering and our peso
(and our credit) was not acceptable to the rest of the
world.
A few individuals sat around our long table in our house on
Acacia St., seven and then 12, where we planned how to oust
Marcos. Later, the greatest story of the decade was told
and retold – except for the stories of Acacia.
It seems like deja vu today. After Chavit Singson met with
Peping (Cojuangco) last September 21 to relate a story that
seemed to belong to the Godfather series, our house on
Acacia again has become a hub of activities.
What Chavit interpreted as an attempt to assassinate him in
the late evening of October 2 hastened and triggered
unplanned events. We agreed that his life was in grave
danger and that the public should know his story about
presidential corruption – that was the best way to protect
himself.
|From Acacia, the first phone calls to chosen media
personalities were made – chosen for their dedication to
the truth, chosen because they were not accepting payola
from the administration. From that press conference to the
headlines of October 4 to today’s news about juetengate and
mansiongate, the public is finding out more and more.
|From the few men and women who first accepted the risk to
their own lives and fortunes in their decision to speak out
and march for our country, I have since been privileged to
have heard people from different fields of expertise. I am
witnessing activities which one day will be regarded as
historical tidbits from the people who were the first to
challenge Erap. * * *
Yet the drama is not over. If we are to believe what Erap
says, he will never resign. The people who want him to
resign are growing in number while his own people are
resigning by the day. I don’t know how this particular
story will end. It is enough for me that our home has once
again been a nest of robins, not hoods.
Again, the truth will set us free, even if we must march to
Malacañang or to detention cells if need be, we will.
Yes, my husband Peping was the primary mover with Boy
Saycon, who mobilized the rallies with COPA and that’s how
the organizations Erap Impeach and Erap Resign merged. If
they couldn’t do it in Congress or the Senate, we have the
streets. Here we have found justice and hope for our
Philippines, and we will find them again. In the streets we
find comfort and security.
In the Acacia house on Septmuch food, God’s blessings, from
8 a.m. to 3 a.m. Everyone arrived – determined, inspired
and encouraged by the hundreds, the thousands, and now
millions of people showing their support. No government
luminary can bribe or coerce us to retreat – and they have
attempted to.
Here on Acacia, with organizations visiting us and
departing, we divide our duties, perform our assignments
and out we go.
Here is the chronology of events as I recall them:
SEPTEMBER 21. The 28th anniversary of martial law. Chavit
called Peping in the morning. Sensing the urgency in his
voice, Peping met Chavit in his office at the Jose
Cojuangco and Sons building.
It wasn’t surprising that Chavit would call. I thought it
was about a cockfight since Chavit was always a visitor in
our residence since the Seventies. Peping and I are both
godparents to his children and the kids of Manong Titong,
Chavit’s elder brother.
Manong Titong spoiled me rotten, like I was Little Orphan
Annie. "Please buy me that tiny Tiffany ring." "Yan lang?"
he would answer. When he told me that he had bought Peping
a pair of brown alligator shoes on sale, I was shocked that
my reserved husband would be sporting outlandish shoes. On
the night of Manong Titong’s heart attack, Chavit called us
at 6 p.m. on New Year’s Day. I contacted every owner of a
light plane I knew who would dare fly to Vigan at night to
pick up Manong Titong and bring him to a hospital in
Manila. Between those hours, 6 p.m. and 10 p.m., Manong
Titong passed away. The next day, I was in Vigan and gave
his daughter Sheila the ring her father had bought for me –
my treasured memento from him was now hers. A month later,
Sheila gave me a painting by Moscoso, fulfilling her
father’s promise of giving me a painting for Christmas.
That day on September 1, Chavit showed the documents that
would expose the corruption leading to the highest level in
government. He asked Peping to bring these out into the
open to protect him because the documents meant his life.
He said to Peping, "They have relieved the provincial
director and chief of police.
Atong Ang must have intrigued the President against me."
Ang prevailed upon the President that in order for Bingo 2
to succeed, a change of provincial directors, district
commanders and station commanders must be replaced by OICs
first. This was done without Chavit’s knowledge, which is
against the local government code. Chavit was sure Ang and
the President were intruding on his political turf to end
his clout. The President gave the money game’s operations
to Chavit’s rival, cousin Eric Singson.
Chavit convinced Peping that he had evidence linking
President Estrada to the illicit jueteng operations. It
was the betrayal of a friend that cut to the core of
Chavit. Drinking, gambling, womanizing and the
occasional dipping of the fingers into the till which
politicians are often wont to do are the vices littering
the political wayside. But through it all, Chavit remained
faithful to his friends. His friends may not have been the
best examples of virtue either, but he accepted them,
enjoyed them, and sometimes even protected them. Betrayal
was not part of his many weaknesses and Chavit squirmed at
what he was doing to Erap – which he was forced to do for
his country and finally for the "new" Chavit.
Chavit recounted giving jueteng money to the President.
That he had an auditor who was a personal nominee of the
President, an official auditor in charge of recording and
auditing income and expenses to monitor Chavit. The auditor
kept accounting records on jueteng income to record all
money, specifically every 15 days. Her name was Yolanda
Ricaforte.
Chavit and Peping agreed to meet. During the EDSA Mass
Peping was attending, he asked Boy Saycon, secretary
general of the Council of Philippine Affairs, to proceed to
Pizza Hut with Teddy Benigno to tell him about Chavit’s
plan. They met at 7 p.m. and discussed the issue of how it
could be presented with credibility. Boy and Ted’s fear was
that Chavit would turn his back on the three of them.
Peping vouched for Chavit’s sincerity.
It’s not for us to hero-worship Chavit. It is for us to
understand that even with his past, we can still
appreciate what he is now telling the nation. There are
these rather stupid comments from the skeptical who focus
on the quality of Chavit’s past and how it is suspicious
for him to be making these accusations. What kind of person
could be so close to someone like Erap, a saint? What kind
of person could be trusted by Erap to be his jueteng
bagman, a saint? How then can a saint ever get to have the
goods on a thief?
SEPTEMBER 22. At Peping’s den in Acacia, Chavit spoke
against Estrada, the jueteng links and how it was
too bad Estrada’s family would be involved in the expose.
Peping advised Chavit regarding his safety and how he
should get a lawyer since the accusation could lead
to impeachable acts filed by Congress. In the same meeting,
they anticipated an impending congressional hearing on the
inquiry regarding the matter. Boy Saycon was tasked to
invite Frank Chavez and Raul Roco.
He proceeded to Chavez’s house at 12:30 a.m. in Alabang. A
meeting was set.
SEPTEMBER 23. At the meeting with Frank Chavez, Peping,
Billy Esposo, Boy Saycon and myself saw the folders of
evidences and heard the Ricaforte tape (there are more
tapes). The tape sickened me. I went to bed with a Valium,
nauseated from the hypocrisy of the President and the
demands for the money and its disbursement. The discrepancy
between the very, very rich with bountiful opportunities
and the poor man became clear. The poor would never earn
the millions Erap gambles in his mahjong games. It was
disgusting.
I remember Billy presented a media plan to prepare Chavit
for a presscon. Peping said, "This may be my last
political act. This issue will be a good chance for our
country to undergo serious reforms. God has been good to
me, it is time I paid him back."
SEPTEMBER 24. Chavez’s acceptance fee for his legal
services was unaffordable to us but nevertheless we
were content that he had initiated a mock grilling to
simulate a Senate hearing.
Next, Peping’s group met with Raul Roco for Chavit’s
defense. Roco refused, stressing that he wanted to
participate deeply and freely in the Senate hearings and
not have to inhibit himself from the proceedings.
We thought he might be the first to deliver the privilege
speech on jueteng. Well, he wasn’t, he didn’t.
Meanwhile, we were without a lawyer and we all acted like
one! Peping called Ding Tanjuatco, a former congressional
colleague and his first cousin. Ding rushed over and
answered. "I am very tempted to do it.
The country has gone through so much already." The next
day, he agreed to do it for free – with the
conviction that the truth should prevail.
What happened to those respected lawyers I voted for? Those
whose rights had been trampled during the Marcos era? Were
they fearful now? Was it suspicion on their part about the
messenger and scared of the message?
Nevertheless, Boy Saycon was tasked to initiate networking
and media-coordination activities. I humbly suggested that
Cardinal Sin should first be informed for us to find solace
in his wisdom and discernment.
Our next meeting brought Billy and Mylene Esposo, Boy and
Maria Montelibano. Peping, adman Pete Cura, Boy Saycon,
Chavit, the de Leons, Wency and Arnie, Linggoy, Charlie,
Choy and myself were strategizing the radio programs and
the policies after Peping and Boy’s meeting with the NGOs.
|From the NGOs were Fr. Nico, Konsensiya Filipino, Concerned
Women of the Philippines, COPA, Paul Dominguez and Danny
Javier.
Everyone’s conclusion was what Boy and Peping wanted all
along since September 21. They did not want
any politicians included so as not to give the exposé a
political color. They did not want the Chavit issue
politicized. (At this point let me remind you that Peping
was leading a private life and no longer in politics.)
Back at Acacia, Chavit said he had executed an affidavit on
September 15, 2000 that sometime in August 1998 he was
summoned by President Estrada at his residence on Polk St.
in Greenhills where the chief executive in the presence of
Bong Pineda and Atong Ang asked to centralize, that is,
consolidate the jueteng operations all over the
Philippines. He instructed Bong Pineda not to proceed to
Malacañang anymore for the delivery of jueteng money.
Instead, the President asked Chavit and Atong Ang to be in
charge of delivering jueteng money to Malacañang. Pineda
had become too obvious as a money bag emissary.
SEPTEMBER 25. Chavit said he executed another affidavit
relating the story about the excise tax and how
Atong Ang tried to cheat the President two years ago and
that President Estrada pocketed P130 million
from the tobacco excise tax, his excuse to cover up for his
election campaign expenditures.
RA 7171, of which Chavit was the principal sponsor, states
that 10 percent of the excise tax collected from
cigarettes should be allotted to Virginia-tobacco producing
provinces such as Ilocos Sur, La Union, Ilocos Norte and
Abra. The biggest producer of Virginia tobacco being Ilocos
Sur. The campaign promise of Estrada to Chavit was that the
President would release all of the P3 billion fund because
during Ramos’ time very little of the fund was released so
the excise tax had accumulated to P4 billion. When Chavit
reminded Estrada of the promise, Estrada reminded Chavit of
his election expenses. "How much can you give me from
the P3 billion?" the President asked Chavit. Chavit
answered 10 percent. Estrada told Chavit to arrange with
the DBM for the funds. The first amount released was P200
million only but Ang got from Chavit P130 million
as promised by him to Erap.
Chavit mentioned he led once personally accompanied Atong
Ang in delivering the P130 million to Erap’s residence. It
was Atong who personally gave the money to Erap. Doubting
Ang’s sincerity, Chavit asked the President how much cash
Atong gave him. He said P70 million. Chavit informed Erap
that he gave Atong a total of P130 million. Infuriated,
Erap called Atong and told him to explain what happened to
the P130 million. According to Ang’s confession, Erap’s
wife got her share of millions, his son P15 million, Atong
got his millions.
SEPTEMBER 26. The Cardinal granted Boy and Peping an
audience at 3 p.m. Peping and Boy Saycon consulted with the
Cardinal on whether Chavit should or should not proceed
with his exposé. Peping told His Eminence the truth must be
exposed but only on the Cardinal’s advice. Chavit asked
Peping to facilitate a meeting with Cardinal Sin.
It was the consensus that Chavit could not be protected by
anyone better than Cardinal Sin. Boy Saycon and Peping were
tasked to meet with the prelate, which they did on
September 26, and were encouraged by the Cardinal’s promise
to listen to the story of Chavit personally after his
scheduled trip to Cebu. A date was tentatively set for the
afternoon of October 3, a Wednesday.
Peping recalls that Cardinal Sin agreed after arriving from
Cebu to meet with Chavit. The Cardinal first
doubted Chavit’s claims but after a thorough briefing and
proofs handed over, the church leader agreed to
see Chavit and support him. Peping and Boy needed the
Cardinal Sin’s support, considering Malacañang’s
influence on media entities that could prevent the truth
form coming out.
By this time, information regarding Singson’s consultations
with lawyers reached Estrada’s group which prompted them to
initiate damage control efforts in Malacañang.
PNP Chief Director-General Panfilo Lacson recalled
Singson’s six police security detail.
Someone divulged to Peping and Boy that Erap was very angry
with Chavit for his jueteng exposé from a Malacañang
conversation the night before over the issue of jueteng
money and Chavit’s threats of exposing Erap’s corruption.
He added that a top official of the Philippine National
Police offered Erap his services to silence Chavit but was
calmed down.
SEPTEMBER 29. Chief Supt. Florencio Fianza met with me at
Dasmariñas Village. I called Chavit to join us.
We coordinated about the former PNP chief Deputy Director-
General Roberto Lastimoso corroborating Chavit’s statements
on the jueteng collections of the PNP and Malacañang.
OCTOBER 1 and 2. Mark Jimenez, Atong Ang, PNP Chief
Director-General Panfilo Lacson and Executive Secretary
Ronaldo Zamora called Chavit convincing him to "bury the
hatchet." The four promised him a new position in
Malacañang in exchange for dropping his exposé.
After they failed to obtain positive results from the
meeting, Ang allegedly threatened Singson. A tape
proves this.
OCTOBER 3. After Mark Jimenez called Chavit at 10:30 p.m.
to convince him not to proceed with his exposé, Singson, on
his way home from a meeting with his Ilocos Sur mayors in
Holiday Inn, was flagged down along the crossing of Taft
Avenue coming from T. Kalaw Street by one motorcycle with
two men with long arms. Aguirre said an anonymous caller
reported that Chavit had a blinker on which was illegal.
Chavit said, "I have had a blinker going to Malacañang for
two years now. No one arrested me until now." His
blinker was not on that night.
Surviving assassination attempts, Singson was in his bomb
proof level 5 Chevrolet Suburban after a meeting
with his Ilocos Sur Mayors in Manila.
Singson was ordered by Azurin to alight from his car.
Instead Chavit’s driver went out of the car. Chavit
refused. Chavit asked Azurin for his cellular phone number
so they could talk to each other while Chavit remained
inside his vehicle.
Singson, who was then accompanied by a driver and an aide,
called his mayors in Holiday Inn and they all
immediately proceeded to the scene. The tension subsided
when Singson and Azurin agreed to settle the issue at the
Western Police District instead of the earlier demand of
the police officer that he be taken to Camp Crame.
OCTOBER 4. Chavit called Boy at 12 a.m. "Tinutuluyan na
ako. Gisingin mo si Peping."
Chavit claimed that the incident was an attempt to
liquidate him. He was now determined to exposé
Estrada’s connections with illegal jueteng activities along
with his close associates and relatives.
Ding Tanjuatco said, "Let’s call Rene Saguisag." We called
Rene to help us and come to the house. Peping
and Chavit told him about the evidence we had. A day later,
he called, saying his partner Carao was Estrada’s lawyer
and to excuse him from lawyering for us. Five days later
his wife was appointed secretary of the Department of
Social Welfare and Development.
At 4:30 p.m., Singson decided to go on air over radio
station DZRH to denounce the harassment incident
arranged by Aris Ilagan, Manny Magato and Boy Saycon. The
press conference was transferred to Chavit’s office, after
considering having the presscon in the parking area of San
Antonio Church!
After that Annie, Wency and Linggoy were assigned to be in
Chavit’s house to handle the press.
OCTOBER 5. Singson’s expose against Mr. Estrada hit the
headlines, overshadowing for succeeding days the Jolo
military operations against the Abu Sayyaf elements in
Mindanao.
One member of the Senate and one from Congress rode on the
issue by calling for an inquiry on Singson’s
allegations. Guingona accused the President of corruption
and abetting jueteng nationwide and for "betraying public
trust." Heherson Alvarez led the call for impeachment in
the Batasan.
OCTOBER 6. Lacson presented in a press conference at Camp
Crame Supt. Joselito Tan who was sacked as director of
Ilocos Sur PNP for his alleged failure to stop jueteng
operations from his area of responsibility.
Lacson, in an apparent attempt to influence Tan to respond
to his "scripted questions," was disgusted over
the police officer’s statements to the media that he had no
knowledge of Singson’s involvement in jueteng
activities since he only assumed the position for only five
months. "If the Governor has nothing to do with
jueteng operations in your province, then the problem is on
you," an irate Lacson told Tan.
OCTOBER 7. Chavit called his very dear friend Cardinal
Sanchez in Rome. In fact, when Chavit and Peping
and others owned a Queen Airplane, to my surprise I saw a
seal of the Vatican outside the plane’s door. I
asked the pilot Charlie, "What happened, was Chavit
converted last night?" Charlie said, His Eminence
Cardinal Sanchez of Bicol who arrived from Rome was using
the plane for his provincial trips for his pastoral
duties. I rode it to Jolo to see my armed Muslim friends.
OCTOBER 8. Cardinal Sanchez from Rome called Cardinal Sin
to grant Chavit an interview, preempting our scheduled
meeting with the Cardinal.
Singson also deposited copies in the Archbishop’s Palace of
all documents that he would use for the expose
as he feared assassination plots against him.
OCTOBER 9. In a jam-packed news conference at Club Filipino
in Greenhills, Singson declared President
Estrada as the "lord of all jueteng lords."
The press conference was attended by local and foreign
media who also listened to the taped conversations between
Chavit and Ricaforte.
Prior to Singson’s arrival at Club Filipino, his three-
vehicle convoy was rerouted from its original path to San
Juan after assets reported the presence of three suspicious
groups monitoring their movements on the three major
thoroughfares. This caused a one-and-a-half-hour delay on
the start of the presscon. Peping, who had been dissuaded
earlier not to attend the presscon, stuck to his decision.
Now was the opportune time for him to fight for his
country.
In the same interview Chavit bared that Lacson threatened
to handcuff Mr. Estrada and put him in jail if he
was not appointed as the next PNP Chief – obviously
referring to the fact that Lacson had "goods" on the
President.
Malacañang downplayed Singson’s exposé, claiming that he
was just sourgraping after the government’s AFP Vice Chief
of Staff and ISAF Commander Lt. Gen. Jose Calimlim raided
the coastal villages of Ilocos Sur.
Motor bikes were being sold by Chavit’s constituents, their
livelihood by the sea coming in by boat. Calimlim
said Chavit was smuggling. Chavit said Calimlim should
investigate the real smugglers and investigate the
ship that brought in the motor bikes!
President Estrada remained silent over the issue for five
days.
OCTOBER 10. As the jueteng scandal surfaced, the
possibility of President Estrada’s impeachment was
declared by opposition congressman Heherson Alvarez. He
would file an impeachment complaint, he said in Congress.
The jueteng controversy embroiling President Estrada rocked
the country’s financial markets, pulling stocks
down to a new two-year low, aggravating the peso
devaluation.
The anger of the people ignited the Presbyteral Council of
the Archdiocese of Manila to issue a pastoral
statement calling for the resignation of Mr. Estrada for
besmirching the image of the presidency after
reviewing Chavit’s documents. The Council declared one week
later that Estrada should relinquish his post
in the spirit of delicadeza and turn it over to his
constitutional successor.
OCTOBER 11. The jueteng scandal reached its highest crisis
when Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin
declared that President Estrada lost "the moral ascendancy
to govern" and that he should step down. Despite Estrada’s
pronouncements on putting a step to gambling operations,
Catholic Church leaders still press for his resignation.
The rightists, the leftists, the moderates, we all together
cannot be stopped. Now or never – especially when the
issues involve our country’s internal and international
respectability, when politicians do not listen to its
citizens and give us no recourse than to march on – and on.
Bayan, KMU, Gomburza, Konsensiya Filipino, COPA, Concerned
Women of the Philippines, Panday, Kasapi, RAM/SFP,
AGFO, Gabriela, Urban Poor, Kabaka, The Lasallites, The
Unity of the Philippines, United Muslim War Victims,
The Ateneans, Aware, La Consolacion.
|From the pain and misery of an abused and abandoned people
will come the seed of wisdom. Such a governance will not
survive for long unless a people’s angst for self-
determination will not be allowed expression.
In the ultimate, it is democracy at its highest potential
that can assure the Filipino of that ginhawa he has
long sought. It is democracy which is strong enough to
accommodate a governing structure sensitive and
nurturing to native cultural nuances. In that original
Filipino spirit which we are endowed with from birth are
the inherent qualities of bayanihan, hospitality,
creativity, and spirituality. These virtues are our
birthright, our inheritance, our legacy. They will also
lift us above the squalor of shame and submission to an
embarrassing government and a betrayed people.
These were the reasons that propelled Peping to handle the
Cory for President snap elections nationwide
campaign in 1984 — every march, every rally. Year 2000, it
is again for the same reasons that he helped
organize and was in the frontline of all these marches,
protests, rallies against Erap. He and Boy Saycon
dared sound the wakeup calls. Everyone was ready, thank God
and just waiting to be led to protest against
immorality and corruption. God works in strange ways.
Right, Fr. Robert Reyes?
(Reprinted from the Philippine Star, Nov. 5, 2000)
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