NEWSFLASH 

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SENATE PROBERS CLEAR NORA AUNOR

Manila, March 24, 2000 - Movie actress Nora Aunor yesterday won the admiration of members of the Philippine Senate when she braved their intense grilling and showed sincerity as she denied having used her closeness to President Estrada to help Columbian Motors Corp. win a contract to supply 105 fire trucks worth P305 million.

Senators, particularly Sen. Robert Barbers, appeared to give the actress-singer a clean bill of health.

Yolanda Ramos, chief operating officer of Pilipinas Daeyang Heavy Industrial, Inc., which lost in the bid, also cleared Ms. Aunor of having resorted to influence peddling on the contract, stating that she has no knowledge or proof to back reports that the actress resorted to influence peddling.

However, another movie star implicated in the bidding is still in hot water.

Ramos testifiedthat movie actor Paquito Diaz was very active in working for the awarding of the contract to the company CMC.

Appearing before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee chaired by Sen. Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr., Ms. Aunor first asked permission to talk in Tagalog before answering Pimentel's queries.

"Wala akong kinalaman (I have no knowledge)," Aunor replied to a Pimentel query whether she had dealings with CMC, specifically on the fire truck supply contract.

She categorically denied having sponsored the deal by talking to the President, adding that she had been sworn to an agreement with movie actor Ronnie Poe never to ask favors from, or do anything to hurt, the President for whom she campaigned in the May 1998 presidential elections.

Ms. Aunor admitted that people would mill around her but never asked for favors. She said that no one approached her on the fire truck deal.

Senator Aquilino Pimentel publicly confessed that he has been a fan of Ms. Aunor for decades, particularly when she sang "Pearly Shells" many years ago.

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno later read a four-page letter to the Pimentel committee stating that he; Eduardo Opida, chairman of the Inter-Agency Bids and Awards Committee (IABAC), and Estanislao C. Granados Jr., of the DBM and ex-officio member of IABAC, "have no first-hand knowledge of any specific influence-peddling activities of Ms. Nora Aunor and Mr. Paquito Diaz."

Senator Barbers stated that she believed in what Ms. Aunor had said. The three other senators - Juan Ponce Enrile, Pimentel, and Guingona - did not contradict Barbers.

Pimentel warned that if Diaz fails to appear in the next committee hearing , he would be forced to issue an arrest order.

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno labelled as "fabricated" a published "government memorandum" highlighting the name of Ms. Aunor and Diaz as sponsors of the fire trucks.

Diokno said he has not talked to Ms. Aunor on the fire truck bidding and that he has not seen any official document stating that Ms. Aunor and Diaz are sponsors of the multi-million-peso contract.

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