200K, P500K Envelopes Given To Pro-Arroyo Lawmakers To Protect GMA from Impeachment?

[chua_riwap]

Bumabaha na pera................




Pro-Arroyo Lawmakers Given Gifts, Pork pledge

Inquirer
10/12/2007

Battling for political survival for the third time in as many years, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Thursday summoned loyal congressmen to Malacañang and, in a show of strength using “sendoff gifts,” forced Speaker Jose de Venecia to back off from an impeachment move.

Envelopes containing cash amounting to between P200,000 and P500,000 were handed out to congressmen at the meeting, along with promises of pork barrel amounting to millions of pesos, hours before administration lawmakers took action in the House of Representatives to protect Ms Arroyo from being impeached, several lawmakers present at the meeting told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.

Ms Arroyo herself called the unscheduled breakfast meeting with around 190 congressmen but some of the Inquirer informants said she was not around when the envelopes were supposedly distributed.

Malacañang dismissed the report as part of “political intrigue” and said that congressmen were “not for sale.”

The congressmen who confirmed the incident described the handouts variously as “a remembrance,” a “sendoff gift,” and “tulong” (help).

“All of them received P500,000,” a ranking member of the staff of one administration congressman said. “Some were floating P200,000 just so they can save when barangay officials start asking them for assistance.”

“The President was not there when the money was distributed, but congressmen got the message. They have to toe what Malacañang wants to happen as far as the impeachment is concerned,” he added.

Hard and soft

The source said that another matter relayed to the House members during the meeting was the distribution of their pork barrel worth P70 million.

“Before, it was 50 hard and 20 soft (P50 million for infrastructure and P20 million for funds assistance to local government units). Now, it’s 35 and 35,” the congressional source said. “Now, there’s more flexibility.”

In an interview with the Inquirer hours after the distribution of money, an administration lawmaker said the largesse came inside envelopes containing at least P200,000 in cash.

The amounts were distributed at the end of a breakfast meeting, the congressman said on condition of anonymity.

“They were distributed by the door as the congressmen were leaving,” he said.

Too Small

But the source made it clear that the money was not meant to influence lawmakers on their decision in the impeachment complaint.

“You don’t kill an impeachment with that meager amount,” he said. “It’s normal at the end of the session days for congressmen to be given tokens of remembrance,” the other lawmaker said. “In this case, congressmen worked extended hours for the national budget. They slept very little. So it’s but natural for the party to make members feel that they are remembered.”

Help in the Elections

Asked to comment on reports that the congressmen received promises of “pork barrel” before or after the Oct. 29 barangay elections, the source said the congressmen got no other pledge from the party leadership.

Another majority congressman confirmed the cash distribution, but said it was intended as “tulong” (help) for lawmakers for the upcoming barangay elections. Asked about the reported “pork barrel” promise, a senior member of the ruling coalition gave different figures of the amounts promised: “The P15 million are for soft projects. The P20 million are for hard projects. We’ve been working for those since August. These are all for 2008.”

The senior congressman, like the other Inquirer sources, asked not to be identified given the sensitivity of the subject matter.

Soft projects are financial assistance to local government units and public institutions such as hospitals. Hard projects are those for infrastructure such as roads, bridges and classrooms.

Another Meeting

The senior congressman denied receiving P200,000 to P500,000 to help barangay election candidates in the coming elections, saying he left the breakfast early.

“I don’t know anything about that,” the three-term lawmaker said.

“There was no need to tell anybody to support the referral of the impeachment complaint against the President because it was already agreed that it will no longer be the Speaker who will transmit the complaint,” the senior congressman said.

Malacañang summoned administration lawmakers to breakfast at 8 a.m.

Ms Arroyo showed up around 30 minutes later, but delivered no speech, according to one Inquirer informant.

Another lawmaker also from the majority said another gathering was scheduled last night in Malacañang “for those who failed to attend the breakfast.”

“I got an invitation,” he told the Inquirer.

Just a Social

Another administration lawmaker, who was also present during the breakfast, said the occasion was largely a “social gathering” for legislators before they took their semestral break.

But the source said his colleagues repeatedly harped on the idea that the elections were near and they needed money.

“Maraming nagpaparinig,” the source said. “Magastos daw.”

One of the Inquirer sources said a congressman needed at least P3 million to help finance youth and barangay candidates in the coming polls. In his district alone, he said he needed at least P1 million on the premise that each of his candidates was to be given P1,000.

One congressman admitted by phone that envelopes were passed during the meeting but said it contained only “a token (amount).”

He explained that the money would go to barangay officials who would have to run for reelection in the barangay polls this month.

No SAROs released

But the lawmaker, who belongs to the inner circle of the House leadership, denied that special allotment release orders (SAROs) were released.

“I don’t think so,” the congressman said, stressing that he himself was surprised that pork barrel allocations were not distributed by Malacañang.

“This is the first time in six years that they did not give anything on the last day of the session of Congress,” the lawmaker said. “Usually, SAROs are handed out during this time.”

The congressman suspected that Ms Arroyo was stopping the scheduled release of SAROs as a leverage against House members on the issue of the impeachment complaint.

Pulling the strings

“It’s coming,” the lawmaker said, stressing that Malacañang had the penchant for using the pork barrel entitlements to keep lawmakers toeing the administration line.

The lawmaker sees Malacañang’s hands “pulling the strings to oust” the Speaker.

“Let’s see who will win in the end. They can’t just unseat Speaker De Venecia,” the congressman said.

Former House Majority Leader Prospero Nograles neither confirmed nor denied the reported release of SAROs when reached by phone late Thursday.

“Releases, if any, of our legislative and our district entitlements for our people are not in any way impeachment-connected. Fact is that they are long overdue for our priority projects listed by congressmen,” said Nograles.

Presidential Management Staff Chief Cerge Remonde said he was not present during the breakfast meeting, “but I don’t think that the Palace will go down to that level.”

He said the unfounded reports were part of the “political intrigues that are no longer news.”

Not for Sale

Remonde said: “The congressmen are not for sale, and for that matter the entire Congress of the Philippines.”

“The President is confident that any impeachment attempt will collapse under its own lack of weight,” Remonde said.

[chua_riwap]

To our Mods:

Paki - change lang po yung thread title to:

" 200K, P500K Envelopes Given To Pro-Arroyo Lawmakers To Protect GMA from Impeachment?"

Napindut ko kasi agad yung "submit" (accidentally) w/out completing the title.

Thanks po.

[oliver1013]

Sarap naman nun...payaman sila ng payaman..samantalang kanina lang sa sa ortigas may batang namamalimos bitbit niya mas batang kapatid niya..ganun ganun nalang talaga..

[VtEC]

diko na tinapos basahin at sumikip dibdib ko sa bulok na style na yan.
sana man lang kuhanin na silang lahat ni Lord.

[jeffrocks]

If it's true or not then that small but terrible lady in malacanang is very smart,no wonder why all the oppositions,extremists,leftists,loyalists merged altogether but still can't get what they want,... maybe magaling lang syang makisama?at galante pa hindi swapang

[chua_riwap]

Grabe na talaga. Pera-pera na usapan.

[kokey]

From Malacanang down to the brgy level e ganyan na ang situation.

Even some religious organization e ganyan din....

Tayo lang ata mga taga-tsikot ang medyo matino e.

[explorer]

from: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquire...ticle_id=94297

Saying he can’t lie, Fr. Ed admits taking P500,000

Inquirer
Last updated 11:59pm (Mla time) 10/13/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- Not only administration congressmen but also at least one local government executive were given money after attending separate meetings with President Macapagal-Arroyo in Malacañang on Thursday.

Pampanga Gov. Eddie Panlilio, a Catholic priest, on Saturday said a Palace staff member dressed in a barong tagalog handed him a brown paper gift bag containing P500,000 as he was walking toward his car.

Panlilio said the bag, which had a handle, was stuffed with crisp P1,000 bills in five bundles, each amounting to P100,000.

He said the man told him he could use the money to help in the barangay elections, and that he accepted it after being told that he could also use it for “barangay projects.”

Panlilio agreed to confirm that money had changed hands after the meeting “because as a priest and a public officer, I should not lie.”

“I believe that since the money came from Malacañang, I also believe it is public money. So I should be accountable for it and transparent about it,” he said.

The President called the meeting with around 200 officers and members of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (Ulap), the umbrella organization of governors, mayors and other local officials, ostensibly to discuss the progress of infrastructure projects in the “super regions.”

It was held hours after a breakfast meeting between Ms Arroyo and around 190 congressmen, where envelopes containing amounts of between P200,000 and P500,000 were reportedly distributed. (Malacañang and some congressmen denied this, but Cebu Rep. Antonio Cuenco confirmed he was given P200,000 as “Christmas gift.”)

A local official tipped the Inquirer that envelopes containing cash were also given out during the President’s meeting with Ulap members.

The source, who asked not to be named because of the sensitive nature of the subject, said the envelopes contained amounts ranging from P20,000 to P500,000 and were distributed so mayors and governors would support the dismissal of the supposedly weak impeachment complaint lodged against Ms Arroyo.

The complaint, filed by private lawyer Roel Pulido, was referred to the House committee on justice late on Thursday.

“They looked funny because when they came out of Malacañang, they carried identical paper bags containing the money. They were like Japanese tourists who came out of a store with similar shopping bags,” the source told the Inquirer.

It was earlier reported that 48 of the 81 governors and an undetermined number of mayors attended the meeting.

The source said P500,000 was apparently for the governors, and amounts of P20,000, P30,000, P50,000, P100,000, P200,000, P300,000 and P500,000 were given to city and municipal mayors.

According to the source, the amount depended on the size of the municipality: “If you are from a small municipality, you got P20,000. Big cities received P100,000 to P300,000, while chartered cities and provinces received P500,000.”

The source also said that apart from Ms Arroyo, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and Undersecretary Tonypet Albano of the Office of Coalition Affairs were present at the meeting with Ulap.

But Ms Arroyo and Ermita were not present when the envelopes were distributed by Remedios “Medy” Poblador of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office and other functionaries, the source said.

Panlilio said that before he left the meeting of the local officials, he learned from other governors that Ms Arroyo would be “giving help” for the barangay elections.

“May ibibigay daw pagkatapos ng meeting,” he said, adding:

“Jonjon (Bulacan Gov. Joselito Mendoza) and I discussed whether to accept the money or not. Jonjon said he would accept it if I decide to accept it.”

But it’s apparently the priest’s word against his colleagues and other local government officials.

Mendoza, a member of Ms Arroyo’s party, the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi), said he had not received any money from any staff member of Malacañang.

Mendoza said in a phone interview that he came to the meeting because he had something to discuss with Ms Arroyo -- the purported refusal of Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno to replace Senior Supt. Asher Dolina as Bulacan police director.

There was only silence from other governors.

Repeated calls by the Inquirer to Eastern Samar Gov. Ben Evardone (secretary general of the League of Provinces of the Philippines or LPP), Misamis Occidental Gov. Loreto Ocampos (the LPP national president), and Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado, (past national president of Ulap), went for naught.

There was likewise no response from the governors of the Southern Luzon provinces -- Vilma Santos-Recto (Batangas), Erineo “Ayong” Maliksi (Cavite), Teresita Lazaro (Laguna), and Arnel Panaligan (Oriental Mindoro) -- despite repeated calls and text messages.

Evardone had earlier told reporters that if the Pulido impeachment complaint had no basis, the governors could “appeal” to congressmen to junk it.

The complaint was purportedly meant to protect the President from another and stronger impeachment complaint for one year.

Mayor Ramon Guico of Binalonan, Pangasinan, president of Ulap and of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines, and a cousin of Ms Arroyo, also denied having received money from Malacañang on Thursday.

“Wala sa mayors. Di kilala ang mayors (There was nothing for mayors. Mayors are not well-known),” Guico said.

He said he could not speak for the governors present because some of them were “suddenly pulled out of the Heroes Hall” in Malacañang by Camarines Sur Gov. Luis Raymund “Lray” Villafuerte.

He said he was informed that the governors went to the Guest House: “They went out before lunch and returned one by one later.”

Guico said members of the Ulap national executive board and Ulap as an organization did not receive money or financial support from Malacañang on Thursday.

He said the mayors and governors gathered at the Heroes Hall for the oathtaking of Ulap officers.

Asked to comment, Governor Villafuerte said in a text message: “I attended the governors’ meeting as chair of the League of Provinces and as Regional Development Council chair of Bicol. There was no cash gift given.”

Mandaue Vice Mayor Carlo Pontico Fortuna, past national secretary general of Ulap, likewise denied that money was distributed to them on Thursday.

Said Fortuna: “[The congressmen] are fortunate because they were given [cash gifts]. We did not receive any. We were there because of the turnover [of responsibilities to the new set of Ulap officers] and secondly, for the terminal meeting of the outgoing Ulap officials. The mayors and the governors were also being called. And I suppose they were there because they were asked to listen to the developments in the ‘super region’ program.”

Manapla Mayor Manuel M. Escalante III, president of the Negros Occidental chapter of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines, said he attended the meeting but was not given any money, nor was he aware that others were given money.

[niky]

Nothing new... educational funds and socio-civic projects receive a ton of money every time there's a scandal.

Hell... GMA should get in trouble all the time... more money for the people... except those who won't be getting their benefits from the GSIS... (where's the money?)

[oldblue]

fr. ed admits taking hahaha