'BEHEST LOAN': PCGG CHIEF BREAKS SILENCE ON LANDOIL CASE VS JDV
MANILA, NOVEMBER 29, 2007 (STAR) By Rainier Allan Ronda - Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Chairman Camilo Sabio admitted yesterday that several people, whom he refused to identify, had urged him to look into the behest loan case of Landoil Resources Corp., a conglomerate formerly headed by Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.But Sabio said his recent move, asking the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to look into the compliance of De Venecia with the compromise agreement with the government, practically severed his 20-year friendship with the embattled house leader.
Sabio revealed that a lot of people had “called his attention” to the compromise agreement forged between Landoil and the PCGG during the time of acting chairman and now Supreme Court Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna in July 1988.
He said these persistent reminders on certain PCGG cases, including Landoil, had spurred him to recently look up the files and, in the Landoil case, to endorse the matter to the Office of the Solicitor General “for appropriate action.”
Sabio said his friendship with the Speaker may have ended the other day when an angry De Venecia called him up asking about his recent connection with regard to the reopening of the behest loan case.
“Yesterday afternoon, coming from the Department of Justice, my first caller was the Speaker. He was very angry. That’s the first time I’ve (heard) him angry. I don’t think he was angry with me,” Sabio said.
Sabio and De Venecia’s friendship goes a long way. Sabio was the House secretary-general when he met De Venecia, who was then vice-chairman of the committee on foreign affairs, 20 years ago.
De Venecia actually did some favors for Sabio that resulted in his being perceived as a “JDV man.”
He recalled that former PCGG chairman and Senate president Jovito Salonga had once considered him as unworthy of trust because of his perceived connection with De Venecia.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t
“People have talked to me, both friends and adversaries, about this case of Speaker De Venecia. When somebody talked to me again about this, I think I agreed immediately that I should act because I could be faulted for dereliction of duty if I did not act,” Sabio shared.
“I’m sorry won’t mention names,” Sabio answered when pressed by reporters on the identities of those who “called his attention” to the different ill-gotten wealth cases.
“But there were several who called my attention to all these various cases, not only this one, but others,” Sabio said.
Sabio, however, said that forwarding the Landoil case to the OSG was the right thing to do especially upon review of the case.
He said that he did not let his personal friendship with De Venecia stop him from doing what he believed had to be done.
“It’s high time really. It should be done,” Sabio said, adding he had anticipated losing the friendship.
“Because I swore when I took my oath that I would do my job. If I could not do it, I should resign immediately,” he added.
He emphasized that his move will prove that he will not let personal friendship or working relationship get in the way of his job.
He said that from a review of the case, it appeared that Landoil had not fully complied with their obligations in the compromise agreement.
De Venecia: Not a behest loan
But Speaker De Venecia, through his lawyer Raul Lambino, had said that the PCGG had already ruled that the Landoil loans “were done in the normal course of business and involved no irregularity,” a conclusion that led to a unanimous dismissal of Landoil cases by the Sandiganbayan.
Lambino added that De Venecia and the Landoil officers were not cronies but victims of the Marcos regime. He added that Landoil has collection claims in excess of $150 million pending with the United Nations Compensation Commission in Geneva.
De Venecia resigned from Landoil in 1985, three years before the company and its officers signed a compromise agreement with the PCGG.
“The compromise agreement was between PCGG and Landoil, and the Speaker was not a signatory to the agreement,” Lambino said.
“I was never a party to that agreement. I resigned from Landoil in 1985. That’s about 22 years ago. Why are they resurrecting this?” De Venecia told The STAR.
However, De Venecia could not confirm or deny whether the issue has got something to do with the move to unseat him.
The agreement referred to was the July 1988 Deed of Assignment between the PCGG and Ambrosio Collada, Landoil president, where the latter agreed to pay the unpaid multimillion-dollar loans.
The Speaker admitted to The STAR that although they were able to pay “in full” their 51,000 employees, including those in the Middle East, they indeed reneged on their financial obligations because of circumstances.
“We were victim of two gulf wars. First the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, and the second, the Gulf war in the early 1990s. We were not able to pay because of the war, but the 51,000 offshore workers were all paid in full,” he said.
It was learned that the compromise agreement between PCGG and Landoil resources resulted in the lifting by the PCGG of the sequestration on Landoil and its subsidiaries and affiliates.
Under the compromise agreement, Landoil committed to transfer to the name of the Philippine government 45 percent of the shares of stock of Landoil and in some six of its subsidiaries and assign to the government monies it stood to collect from claims with several foreign corporations in the Middle East where it undertook big-ticket contracts.
Landoil had voluntarily approached the PCGG for a compromise agreement in 1986 when it admitted that 45 percent of Landoil was owned by deposed President Ferdinand Marcos.
Not only JDV
On Tuesday, Makati Rep. Teddyboy Locsin – an ally of De Venecia – said the behest loan issue should not just be limited to the Speaker, but should also include other recipients, like two incumbent senators.
Sen. Pia Cayetano meanwhile pushed for the repeal of Presidential Decree 1177 or the automatic appropriations law to “curb the morally improper behest loans.”
In an interview over radio station dzME, Locsin said it is also important that other beneficiaries of behest loans are uncovered, and that this should not just be limited to Landoil, where the Speaker is a former president.
“The people will never see their money again but they should at least know who raped them in the dark days of martial law. They didn’t feel the rape because they were perpetrated with such financial finesse, using the services of leading bankers,” he said.
The publisher-turned-politician nevertheless conceded that going after other borrowers might just be a futile exercise. – Delon Porcalla, Aurea Calica
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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