Monday, July 22, 2013
Sunday, July 21, 2013
$30M MRT Extortion - Palace asks Czech envoy to prove extort claim
Palace asks Czech envoy to prove extort claim
July 19, 2013 11:15 pmMalacañang on Friday urged Czech Ambassador Josef Rychtar to prove his claims implicating Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) officials in an extortion attempt on a Czech company who was trying to land a contract with the Metro Rail Transit (MRT).
News reports, first published by The Manila Times, revealed that officials of the DOTC, MRT and the Czech firm met during the time of secretary Manuel Roxas.
The Czech ambassador said Roxas’ men asked from $2 million to $20 million from Inekon, a Czech train-manufacturing company and a bidder for the supply of trains for the MRT 3.
In a press conference, Palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda said that the government is ready to probe the alleged extortion try if evidence is presented.
Unsubstantiated reports had earlier linked the President’s sister Ballsy to the extortion attempt, all because she and her husband had gone on vacation in the Czech Republic. The reports were eventually proven to be false.
”Our standard response is, give us the evidence we will investigate,” Lacierda said. ”If you look at the story there are no quotes. There are no quotes from the Czech ambassador that’s why it’s important to say—there was a mention of the meeting on July.“
”We are asking the Czech ambassador to—as in any accusation—present us evidence and we will investigate,” he said.
Lacierda denied that Czech-based Inekon was blacklisted in MRT project.
In April, Lacierda said Transportation Secretary Emilio Abaya met with Rychtar and encouraged the Inekon group to bid for the 40 coaches for the MRT-3.
But he said the group purchased bid documents but did not submit their bid.
”The first issue alone was Inekon blacklisted is already not true. Inekon was not blacklisted,” he said.
”There is no reason for us to doubt that this administration purpose is to level the playing field,” Lacierda said, noting that all the transactions are transparent.
”You can always ask the Cabinet secretaries of all the transactions and, like I said, Secretary Jun Abaya is willing to answer,” he said. “I think it’s fairly obvious that their department is being dragged. So it behooves them to issue on their own.”
”The DOTC projects are transparent. You can ask Secretary Jun Abaya. Jun Abaya is a very transparent Cabinet Secretary,” Lacierda added.
Abaya confirmed that Inekon has not been blacklisted.
“There is no blacklist. There is simply no truth to the claim,” said Abaya.
In fact, when Rychtar met with the transport chief in April 2013, Abaya requested him to relay to Inekon that the DOTC was encouraging the firm to participate in the bidding for the MRT project.
During that meeting, Rychtar also raised some concerns regarding the bid, and even requested Abaya to be cautious about the issue.
“We at the DOTC express in the strongest possible terms our commitment to fight corruption at all levels. We will take all the necessary steps to uncover the truth behind these allegations, which remain unsubstantiated at the moment,” Abaya said.
Fight corruption
“Opening the project to bidding erases doubts as to any favoritism. I personally felt that the Inekon proposal—which was never formally submitted to the DOTC and which amounted to around $3 million per LRV—could make it appear that favors were being made,” Abaya said.
Notably, the approved estimate for DOTC’s bid was only $1.8 million per LRV, around $1.2 million per LRV less than the indicative amount in the Inekon proposal.
Abaya said he always had authority from President Benigno Aquino 3rd to bring in his own people to DOTC, but that he has found no need to replace the existing team when he came aboard last year.
“Having worked with the current DOTC Undersecretaries, Assistant Secretaries, and members of our Bids and Awards Committees, I vouch for their integrity and good work ethic,” he said.
Ambassador dared to show proof of extortion
July 21, 2013 9:57 pmMalacañang is confident that allegations of extortion surrounding the government’s Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT) project will not affect the public’s perception on the Aquino administration’s purported campaign against corruption.
Palace spokesperson Edwin Lacierda over the weekend said that the exposé of the Czech Ambassador Josef Rychtar would not tarnish the government’s “tuwid na daan” (straight path) advocacy.
“Why should it? Every time there is an issue on corruption we have always asked the party to present us evidence,” Lacierda said.
“It is no different just because an ambassador said it,” he added.
The Palace spokesperson urged anybody who has any charge or claim of corruption to present evidence so that Malacañang could investigate.
“We have embarked on a campaign against corruption and, therefore, we will investigate all allegations of corruption provided that there’s evidence that will be submitted to the investigating body,” he said.
”That’s the only request that we have always maintained. That’s the standard request that we have always maintained,” Lacierda added.
He also maintained, “There are men and women in government; the President, foremost among them, is determined in this fight against corruption.”
Rychtar earlier revealed that there were irregularities involving a Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT) project.
The ambassador accused Transportation Undersecretaries Jose Lotilla, Rene Limcaoco, Catherine Gonzales and Assistant Secretary Jaime Feliciano of demanding $30 million in exchange for the approval of the Czech proposal.
The allegation initially included President Benigno Aquino 3rd’s eldest sister, Maria Elena “Ballsy” Cruz, and her husband Eldon. The Palace had denied this.
Meanwhile, Lacierda official asked the ambassador to cooperate with the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) led by Secretary Emilio Abaya, who initiated investigations on the said allegations.
”It requires every person, including the Czech ambassador, to submit allegations of corruption—to submit evidence to prove these allegations, and that’s what due process is all about, and that’s the reason why we urge the Czech ambassador to cooperate,” he said.
”We are asking the Czech ambassador . . . as in any accusation, present us evidence and we will investigate, “ Lacierda added.
The Palace earlier allowed the DOTC to probe the allegations. Documents had also been forwarded to the Ombudsman by former DOTC secretary Manuel Roxas 2nd to allow further investigations.
$30M MRT Extortion - Czech Envoy Lying?
Palace, DOTC officials out to discredit Czech envoy
July 20, 2013 11:35 pmFor 3 years now, DOTC has ignored formal Czech govt letters supporting Inekon bid
THE most remarkable feature of the press conference Transportation and Communications Secretary Emilio Abaya held on Friday was his effort to discredit the Czech Republic’s Ambassador Josef Rychtar.
This effort was markedly noticeable in the President’s spokesman Secretary Edwin Lacierda’s words on the subject to Malacañang reporters.
What impressed our reporter who attended the Abaya presscon was the Secretary’s insistence that the Czech Ambassador was, in effect, lying when he told first The Times that that the Czech company Inekon, which has been bidding to supply MRT3 coaches and modernization technology and systems, had been blacklisted as a DOTC supplier.
The absence of a blacklist against Inekon or the Czech Republic was also highlighted to Palace reporters by Secretary Lacierda.
The Times special report of three parts by our Chairman Emeritus Dante A. Ang did not have the word “blacklist” or “blacklisted.”
But it appears obvious that Inekon would never be entertained by the authorities in the DOTC – and is therefore the subject of a practical blacklist – because the Czech government over the last three years has sent more than ten official letters to the
DOTC supporting the Inekon proposal and “submitted to the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) booklets of extensive technical plans and financial proposals in order to comply with Philippine Procurement Procedures.”
These words come from a letter dated June 29, 2013 to President Benigno S. Aquino 3rd by Czech Ambassador Josef Rychtar. See complete text of that letter elsewhere on Page 1.
Until now, Inekon and the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Trade and Foreign Affairs are still waiting for a response to the letters.
However, as detailed in Dr. Dante Ang’s 3-part special report, the Inekon proposal was the subject of conversations between the Czech Ambassador, MRT General Manager ______ Vitangcol and his friends.
Some of these conversations involved an effort to get Inekon to pay bribe money as much as $30 million and at last lowered to $2.5 million.
Is it because the Palace officials and Secretary Abaya want to clear not only Mr. Vitangcol but its supervisory agency, the DOTC, from any involvement in the shameless extortion attempt on the Czech Republic?
Nevertheless, that Secretary Abaya at his Friday presscon announced that he is initiating a probe on the MRT General Manager’s possible involvement in the extortion attempt indicates two things.
1. That the expose authored by Dr. Ang, and supported by documents and interviews with persons who affirmed having witnessed and heard the extortion attempt, has moved the Aquino administration to do the right thing.
2. That there is hope in the President’s Daang Matuwid growing into more than a dream.
$30M MRT Extortion - Govt Probe Begins
MT chairman emeritus touches raw nerve
Manila Times July 20, 2013 10:55 pmThe subject, first taken up by our chairman emeritus, Dante Ang, has apparently touched a raw nerve.
In a three-part series in The Manila Times, Mr. Ang divulged the extortion attempt by high-ranking officials of the Metro Rail Transit, with the important players depicted and their role in it explained.
Now a probe is set to be conducted on the matter.
The author described what is contained in a document made available to him, specifically the conversations, during a series of meetings between MRT general manager Al Vitangcol 3rd and Czech Ambassador to the Philippines Josef Rychtar, and other characters who played supporting roles in the drama.
In one of the meetings someone suggested that Inekon officials give Mr. Vitangcol and his group “a $30 million gift”, apparently as a precondition for the firm to be given the P3.769-billion MRT contract.
Inekon is a Czech company interested in supplying trains under the MRT 3 Capacity Expansion Project.
The ambassador was aghast, reminding everyone that commission, especially of such magnitude, was impossible under a government-to-government contract.
Mr. Ang wrote the article to set the record straight.
A few days before, one newspaper ran a story alleging that Ballsy Aquino Cruz, the President’s sister, and her husband, Eldon, asked Inekon for $30 million in exchange for an outcome of the bidding favorable to the company. The report also stated that husband and wife traveled to Prague, along with two trusted friends, for that purpose.
As Mr. Ang saw it, Ballsy and Eldon were innocent, and yet the story revolved around them, while it was silent about people in the document—people who may have tried to make a fast buck, if there was indeed an attempt.
The report was an all-too-transparent ploy to deflect attention from people at MRT and the Department of Transportation and Communications.
Our chairman emeritus made it clear that he was not defending the Presidential relatives or anybody for that matter. He only wanted an investigation to be conducted into the matter, with the government, if it is at all interested in the truth, focusing on the people who may be guilty.
The document that was made the basis of then an exclusive report is complete with names, dates, places, and snippets of conversation. The information it contains is so detailed it could only have come from an insider.
Ambassador Rychtar confirmed what Mr. Ang had said about Ballsy and Eldon, which was that they were innocent of the charge leveled against them. He did say, however, that he had had several meetings with the group, again as Mr. Ang depicted it.
An honest-to-goodness investigation need only follow the strands to arrive at the truth.
$30M Extort - Czech Envoy Clears Ballsy
Czech envoy write to President Aquino
July 20, 2013 11:29 pm
Embassy of the Czech Republic
30/F Rufino Pacific Tower, 6784 Ayala Avenue,
Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Tel.: +63-2-8111155, +63-2-8111156,
Fax: +63-2-811020
Email: manila@embassy.mzv.cz
Web: http://www.mzv.cz/manila
BENIGNO S. AQUINO III
President
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
Malacañang Palace
Manila
Your Excellency,
Last 29 June 2013, the Czech Company Inekon, and members of your family were the subjects of inaccurate and nasty press reports pertaining to the MRT3 capacity expansion. On both a personal and official capacity, please allow me to make the following statements:
1. I wish to state that the allegations that members of your family were involved with discussions with Inekon on any projects in the Philippines are simply untrue and malicious. I have had the pleasure of meeting Eldon and Ballsy Cruz and other members of your family and former Secretary Pete Prado who was a member of your late mother’s official family and I hold all of them in the highest esteem. Neither Secretary Prado nor any member of your family has offered their any assistance in any of the projects that my country is pursuing in the Philippines. Your family is well known not to involve themselves on governmental affairs most especially in the area of procurement.
2. The Czech proposal for the MRT3 capacity expansion and modernization is a government-to-government deal, which cannot contain any provisions for commissions. Over the last three years, we have transmitted more than ten official letters from our Ministry of Trade and Foreign Affairs supporting this proposal and submitted to the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) booklets of extensive technical plans and financial proposals in order to comply with Philippine Procurement Procedures. We continue to wait patiently for a response from the DOTC.
3. In early April 2013, I was able to secure a meeting with Secretary Emilio Abaya to report an incident between some officials of his department and myself, together with the top management of Inekon. While I still have yet to discern who are behind these terrible press releases, I had hoped that Secretary Abaya would have dealt with this issue in a swift and judicious manner before it reached this embarrassing and untenable state of affairs.
Your Excellency, should you find it worthwhile, we are prepared to come out with a public statement to clear members of your family whose honor have been besmirched by these malicious press reports and to declare the Czechs government’s continued interest in participating in your government’s development program.
We remain in support of your administration and the Filipino People.
Josef Rychtar
Ambassador of the Czech Republic
$30M MRT Extort - Real Culprits?
An attempt to silence this paper or just plain Filipino culture?
July 10, 2013 9:41 pmPart three
I want to thank my readers for their enthusiastic response to my article, “$30 Million Extort Try: Fact or Fiction?” It registered the highest hits for articles and stories for the day’s issue of the Manila Times.
One of the readers, a certain Rose, posed several questions. For lack of space, I will try to briefly address her questions. Again, I must emphasize that I was not at all defending the presidential relatives when I wrote the report. It was based on documents I received from someone who has direct access to the DOTC records, and from my interviews of one of the major players in that shameful event.
Rose asked why the Aquino administration did not deny that the Cruz couple did indeed travel to Prague in 2011. My answer is, I don’t know. I did not bother to ask Lacierda or any Palace functionary.
She also asked: If the Prague visit was a “social gathering” why were Czech businessmen in attendance? “Does this mean that Ballsy is specifically authorized to speak for and in behalf of the Philippines? And why not send government officials concerned with trade and business in the Philippines and not civilian people like Ballsy and Eldon Cruz?”
My informant said that the couple was invited by the Czech Ambassador to the Philippines for a purely social visit to Prague and that while they were there, the Czech government made arrangements for some businessmen to attend the affair. Ballsy and Eldon as private citizens are not and cannot speak for and in behalf of the government.
“Why was Inekon specifically mentioned in this alleged ‘extortion try?’ “Well, because Inekon is the Czech company that had shown interest in and submitted its proposal for the MRT modernization program.
I also agree with Rose that, “if Vitangcol is the main suspect in this botched extortion try” he won’t dare do it without someone higher in rank “instructing him to do so.”
Lastly, the Czech Ambassador figured prominently in the MRT-Inekon negotiations only because the Czech company’s proposal was for a Government-to-Government (G-G) contract. And because it is supposed to be G-G, it is the Ambassador of the proposing country who, by law, is authorized to speak for the foreign proponent with the Philippine authorities.
So, there. I hope I have answered Rose’s questions satisfactorily. Now to the issue of the day.
On Monday, July 1, four days before my scheduled meeting with MRT General Manager Al Vitangcol, a certain Jun Alano called my office in the morning and again later at lunchtime. I was not available when he called on both instances. I returned his call in the afternoon.
He introduced himself and reminded me that he is the Jun Alano who used to work for me at the now defunct daily business paper, “MoneyAsia.”
I asked him what he wanted. At the start, he was hemming and hawing. Finally he said “his brother is working with the MRT” and because of that he is helping Vitangcol in his PR effort.
I had to ask him twice, “So, are you or are you not Vitangcol’s PR (consultant)?” And he then meekly admitted, “Eh, ganoon na nga. [Eh, that in fact is the case.]” I then said, “Ganoon naman pala, PR ka pala nya, bakit paikot-ikot ka pa? Ano ba ang kailangan mo? [If that’s what it is, and you’re his PR, why do you have to go around in circles? What do you want?]”
Imploringly, he replied, “Baka naman huwag nang ilagay ang pangalan ni Vitangcol sa story mo. [Maybe Vitangcol’s name doesn’t have to be in your story.]” I said, “How could that be? He is one of the principal players in the document in my possession.”
Alano then blurted out: “Iyon na nga, sir. Baka naman daw may magawa siya para sa iyo in the future. [That’s the thing, sir. He said maybe he could do something for you in the future. ]”
That took away my equilibrium for a moment. I was dumbfounded. I had never before felt so humiliated in my life. Imagine a former employee asking that I omit the name of a major participant in an alleged $30-million grease-money scandal and having the temerity to offer me something in the “future.” I admonished him briefly and immediately put down the phone. He did not call again after that.
What kind of Public Relations was that? Is that what they call PR at MRT? Is that the best Vitangcol can do in the face of a crisis? Kill the story in exchange for a future favor? Where did this Alano come from? Just because he can write a news release he thinks he is already a PR practitioner?
And so the first question I asked Vitangcol when we met in the morning of Friday, July 5, at Café Adriatico in Malate, was, “Do you know a certain Jun Alano?” Instead of answering my question directly, he launched a circuitous explanation about his being “a director of the UP Engineers Association and we contracted the services of a PR firm to conduct our homecoming (activities) and plan events. That’s Jun Alano.”
He vehemently denied that Alano is MRT’s PR consultant and insisted that he did not engage Alano to be his personal PR or write specific stories for him.
Vitangcol however said that he knew that Alano had called me. The MRT GM explained that after he and I had talked and set our appointment, he spoke to Alano and “asked him to find out what the story is all about.”
When I pressed him if he knew that Alano had asked me to delete his name from my story, he said, “Ang sabi ko lang po sa kanya, wala akong alam dyan, tapos eh kung lalabas ang pangalan ko kawawa naman ako kasi I have always protected. . . (unintelligible). Ang tagal kong pinagtrabahuhan na may credibility ang pangalan ko tapos masisira lang ng unfounded story. [The only thing I told him was I know nothing about that, and it would make me so pitiful if my name comes out because I have always protected . . . (unintelligible). I worked long and hard to give my name credibility then it would just be damaged by an unfounded story.]”
What else did you tell Jun Alano, I asked him. “Kung ano yung ibang tao di ko sila kilala eh di gusto nyang banggitin eh di banggitin nya. [Whatever those other people are I don’t know them and if he (Dante Ang) wants to name them then let him name them.]”
Vitangcol also confirmed to me that he had instructed Alano to tell me that maybe he (Vitangcol) could do something for me in the future in exchange for not naming him in my report.
I repeated my question to give Vitangcol a chance to rethink his statement. But without any hesitation, he repeated what he just said and proceeded to justify it by saying, “Ganoon naman po talaga tayo pag nakikiusap [We are really that way when seeking a favor], we don’t close the discussion. We don’t want enemies, di ba [do we]? Eh sometimes (unintelligible).”
Before I left, Vitangcol managed to ask me if someone had directed me to write about the $30 million demand from the Czech company. I dismissed the insinuation and replied that I am writing the report because it is a good story.
An unsolicited advice to Vitangcol and his PR. Face the issue squarely. If the story is inaccurate, point out the inaccuracies clearly, logically. Air your side in a straightforward no nonsense fashion. And don’t put a spin on it. When you try to pay your way out, you only reinforce suspicion of your guilt.
S30M MRT Extortion - Facts?
The $30-million extort try: Fact or fiction?
July 8, 2013 11:16 pmI didn’t expect my defense of Presidential sister Ballsy and brother-in-law Eldon Cruz, former DOTC Secretary Pete Prado and Lopez-in-law Steve Psinakis on their alleged attempt to extort $30 million from a Czech company in exchange for MRT project contracts to invite polarized reactions from my readers.
Naturally, some disagreed with me while others were supportive. But that’s neither here nor there. I’m less concerned with earning public approval than writing a legitimate story.
I was handed the document containing details of the alleged $30-million extortion try about three weeks ago by someone who has access to the DOTC goings-on. Just like that. He’s asked me to study the document and do whatever I wanted to do with it.
The accusations are so serious that I said, “I will look into it, talk personally to the people on the list, get their side of the story and, hopefully, uncover the truth before publishing the report”—if it would do any good.
In the days that followed, he emailed me, sent and forwarded me text messages from one of the major players in the botched extort episode. We talked on the phone almost daily.
But while I was preparing to talk to some of the people cited in the document, out came the radio newscast accusing Ballsy, Eldon, Prado and Psinakis of allegedly demanding $30 million from Inekon, a Czech company, for a favorable deal with the MRT. The reports dragged Big Names into the fray except that they were not the characters on the list.
I then decided to write a story defending the presidential relatives, Prado and Psinakis, the better to help enlighten the public on this relevant issue and to challenge our government officials and thought leaders to stand up against corruption in government not by mere rhetoric but by some positive action.
I should be the last person to defend the President or his family from their detractors. Little is known about the fact that I was “fired” by the President in February 2012 as consultant for the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) for my close ties with the late President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and for his mistaken information (a piece of black prop) that I was former Supreme Court Justice’s Rene Corona’s PR consultant. I told my friend at the PCSO that “I am not Corona’s PR, but if he had asked me, I would have helped him.”
I submitted my irrevocable resignation to the PCSO Board after learning from a highly reliable source that a personal message by the President, no less, was sent to the PCSO Chair Margie P. Juico, “not to defend Dante Ang anymore.” I wanted to spare her the agony of having to defend me in the face of a presidential order. Besides, I was afraid that if I stayed a day longer, I would be placing her in a fix. She would likely court the ire of the President and face the prospect of an abbreviated reign at the PCSO.
It is my view that defending the innocent is a matter of public duty. Media practitioners are bound by ethical standards of checking, cross-checking, verifying, interviewing the persons mentioned in a story before it is published or aired. No sort of thing ever happened before the alleged involvement of the presidential relatives in the $30-million shakedown was aired on radio three times in as many days.
The $30 million extort try
The reported $30 million demand by some people—in and out of government – is contained in a 2-page document that was furnished me by someone with access to DOTC records. It includes dates, meetings, events and summaries or descriptions and even quotes of conversations between DOTC and MRT officials, the Czech Ambassador to the Philippines and the roles played by some private individuals in the episode.
The paper talks of the dinner attended by the Czech Ambassador, two Inekon officials, MRT General Manager Al Vitangcol, Manolo Maralit, Wilson de Vera and Marlo dela Cruz, that led to another meeting at the Ambassador’s residence where someone in the group allegedly proposed that Inekon officials give a $30 million gift. The Czech officials rejected the idea as being “excessive and impossible.”
It also describes the events surrounding Vitangcol’s proposal to Inekon to set up a Philippine company for a joint venture undertaking with the Czech company which would be 60 percent owned, secretly, by the MRT GM’s uncle and some other equity holders.
The document also tells of how Vitangcol allegedly snubbed the Czech Ambassador and Inekon officials when they went to his office for an official call previously arranged by DOTC people weeks earlier.
Interview with a principal figure
My source, it should now be obvious, is someone who was part of the whole shameful episode. He confirmed the dinner sometime in July 2012 somewhere in Makati with the two Inekon officials, Vitangcol, Maralit who made the arrangement upon the request of the Ambassador, Wilson de Vera and Marlo P. dela Cruz.
He said that after the dinner, Maralit went to him and said that “Vitangcol wants another meeting somewhere else and he will explain to you what you must do to proceed with the project.” The Ambassador suggested his residence.
My source said that Vitangcol begged off saying that Wilson de Vera was authorized to speak for him. Present in the meeting at the Ambassador’s residence were the Ambassador, the two Inekon officials, Manolo Maralit, and Wilson de Vera. Nobody could ascertain for sure whether or not Marlo dela Cruz was also present.
In that meeting, Wilson de Vera “offered [named the amount] how much Inekon must pay.” My source said that “He started with $30 million” and subsequently lowered it to $2.5 million after the Inekon group rejected his demand. The Ambassador said, “Are you crazy? Do you realize how much each train would cost? Each train will cost $4.5 million.”
De Vera, according to my source, excused himself and said that he “must consult.” He then proceeded to call someone and came back and said, “Ok, Mr. Vitangcol said that the consultants have determined that the cost of the train must not go over $3 million.” Dela Cruz then lowered the extortion demand to $2.5 million.
Maralit, my source tells me, was equally surprised at the demands of De Vera. However, Maralit who was present during the meeting at the Ambassador’s residence, denies having heard De Vera asking for $30 million, which was subsequently reduced to $2.5 million. In my phone interview with him, he said that he was in and out of the meeting for a smoke.
Maralit however confirmed that De Vera was at times on the phone seemingly consulting with someone. “Must be taking instructions,” he added. “(Di ko alam) I don’t know, every time he put down the phone, he came up with some new ideas,” Maralit added. He also said that he noticed De Vera was very uneasy during that meeting, “Parang naiiyak si Wilson.”
My source also recounted how Vitangcol snubbed the Ambassador and Inekon officials when he purposely did not meet with them for a pre-arranged official call at the GM’s office. After waiting for some 15 minutes, someone from the MRT depot faced them to say that the GM was not coming.
Not wanting to waste their time, the group of the Ambassador requested that they be brought to the depot to see for themselves the conditions of the coaches. While there, they were met by Jose “Pepe” Rodriguez, former bureau chief in the Philippines of the Spanish wire service, EFE. Rodriguez told the Ambassador that Vitangcol didn’t want to meet with the group at his office and that he would meet with them somewhere else.
Rodriguez brought them to Café Breton in Trinoma where Vitangcol, after some five minutes showed up and joined the group.
In that encounter, Vitangcol reportedly said, “Pepe and I are together. You cannot separate us.”
Joint venture proposed
My source could not remember the exact date of the meeting but someone from the group suggested forming a joint venture agreement with 60 percent of its equity to be held by a Filipino group, Vitangcol’s uncle being one of them.
The following day, the Ambassador and Inekon officials went to meet with Vitangcol at his office in Quezon City. They were greeted by Vitangcol and Wilson de Vera. Upon seeing them, Vitangcol allegedly asked, “How did you decide to pay this money and to establish the joint venture? What is your position?”
“They already had the papers and some Filipino names ready,” my source added. The group of the Ambassador was shown the door immediately after they stated their rejection of the demands and the formation of a joint venture company. “We will not go for any corruption,” my source quoted the Ambassador as saying when he rejected the joint venture. “The group was not even given any chance at all to present their [legitimate] program to Vitangcol,” he added.
Maralit reportedly arrived at the GM’s office after the Ambassador’s party had left and while on their way to their office in Makati, His Excellency received a text message from Maralit saying, “The Czechs are finished, I will not give them any project. I don’t want to speak with them anymore.”
Maralit confirmed that he sent the text message to the Ambassador only because De Vera had asked him to.
Vitangcol denies allegations
I met with Vitangcol in the morning of Friday, July 6, to get his side of the story. He refused to have the interview taped. He said he doesn’t want his name mentioned on tape. I dutifully turned off my recorder and proceeded to ask my questions.
Vitangcol denied ever having dinner with the Ambassador or having coffee with the Ambassador and Pepe Rodriguez at Trinoma. “Jose (Pepe) is just an acquaintance, not a friend,” he said. He insisted on his denials even as I pressed him about the reported dinner that was hosted by the Ambassador where he and the three others were reportedly present. I asked him, “if Maralit, de Vera and Dela Cruz are not your friends, what were they doing in the meeting? Who invited them?” He denied that he was present at that dinner.
When asked whether he had any occasion to have dinner and coffee with the Ambassador outside the MRT office, Vitangcol nonchalantly said no.
I asked him if Maralit, de Vera and Dela Cruz are his friends. He replied in the negative. “Hindi ko personal na kakilala ang mga iyan. Mga taga PH Trams (yan), mga officers,” he said. He only met them when they started to handle the maintenance of the MRT in October 2012, he added. “They are not my friends,” he emphasized. “I don’t know where these people came from. I also don’t know who their connections are. I have not gone out with them,” he added.
When I asked him why Maralit, dela Cruz and De Vera went to the Ambassador’s residence, he suggested that “the three might have some business with the foreign dignitary.” He said that Maralit is known to the Ambassador and that the two were together when they paid him a courtesy call in January or February this year.
Vitangcol also denied knowing anything about the $30 million extort try. He said that he was not present at the Ambassador’s residence when the alleged solicitation happened. Said he: “Since I was not at the Ambassador’s residence at the time the $30 million extortion reportedly happened, that should prove that I had nothing to do with it.”
He denied as well that he proposed the formation of a joint venture with Inekon where the Filipino equity holders, including his uncle, would own 60 percent.
He said he did not snub the Ambassador and the Inekon officials when they went to his office for an official call. He explained that he was out of the office at that time and the only time he came to know that there was a meeting was when his secretary called him earlier that same day.
“Why would I attend the meeting, it was arranged only by a director at the DOTC. I am higher in rank than him,” Vitangcol added.
Pepe Rodriguez joins the denial act
Jose “Pepe” Rodriguez and I met Saturday morning at the Intercon. I wanted some clarifications.
Contrary to the claim of Vitangcol, Rodriguez admitted that Vitangcol and he had dinner with the Czech Ambassador in a restaurant in Greenbelt 5 (he couldn’t recall the date) and again for coffee in Café Breton in Trinoma sometime in March this year.
He recounted the circumstances behind the meeting with Vitang col, the Ambassador and the two Inekon officials at Trinoma. He said that “Vitangcol was not at his office when these people went there and I told them ‘Let me try to see if he’s around so I can call up and if he’s around he can come’ and the guy came.” It was during that meeting that Vitangcol allegedly told the Ambassador and Inekon officials that “You cannot separate us. We are together.” Rodriguez repeated that the meeting was purely social and that there was nothing said about him and Vitangcol being inseparable.
Rodriguez, again contrary to the claim of Vitangcol, confirmed that a dinner was held at Zuni Restaurant at Greenbelt 5 in Makati with the Ambassador and Vitangcol. Others present were Manolo Maralit, Wilson de Vera and Marlo P. dela Cruz.
The document I got describes the three individuals as belonging to the party of Vitangcol. Maralit however clarified that at the time when the dinner was held, he was still part of the Ambassador’s party. He is now one of the members of the group that was awarded the contract to maintain the MRT coaches for a “temporary period of time.”
Next thursday: An attempt to silence this paper or just plain filipino culture?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)