032907: Philcomsat inquiry closing questioned

By Butch Fernandez

Reporter

SEN. Richard Gordon confirmed he is closing the Senate hearings into alleged anomalies at the sequestered Philippine Communications Satellite Corp. after an “executive meeting” Tuesday evening determined that the public testimony of a vital witness, aging businessman Manuel Nieto who owns a big bloc of Philcomsat shares, was no longer needed. But former senator Rene Saguisag, lawyer for Philcomsat directors, said he was writing Senator Gordon to seek a clarification because his clients were not represented at the hastily called “executive meeting.” It was learned that Mr. Nieto, accompanied by his lawyer Manuel Lazaro, made a brief appearance at about 6 p.m. Tuesday before Gordon, chairman of the Senate Committee on Government Corporations, in a closed-door meeting that was attended only by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, whose family also owns shares in Philcomsat. Enrile earlier inhibited himself from the inquiry Gordon is conducting jointly with the public services committee. Sources present at the “executive meeting” said it was apparent to them that Mr. Nieto, now in his mid-80s, was no longer “in full command of his faculties” and may not be able to withstand the rigors of testifying at a public hearing. Gordon said that after seeing Mr. Nieto’s condition, he decided to conclude the hearings and would now prepare a committee report recommending immediate reforms in the Presidential Commission on Good Government’s (PCGG) policies in running State-sequestered firms. Gordon also admitted it was clear to him that Mr. Nieto was in no position to have made the crucial decisions being attributed to him authorizing the release of Philcomsat funds for questionable disbursements. But former senator Saguisag questioned the procedure and said he would ask for a clarification from Gordon.  “It was not in order because: number one, Senator Enrile, who was the only other senator present, was not a disinterested party because his family owns about 5- or 6-percent shares in Philcomsat; and, number two, Senator Enrile already inhibited himself,” Saguisag said in a chance interview at an Ateneo-led forum-booklaunching at the Mandarin Hotel in Makati Wednesday. Third, Saguisag added, “the status of Mr. Nieto’s mind today may not be the same as it was yesterday, or the years earlier” and could not be the basis for making conclusions in a Senate committee report one way or the other.     Saguisag also argued that unless national security was involved, Senate committee meetings cannot be held behind closed doors. “This is extremely irregular,” he said, adding: “we are talking [about somebody’s health and mental state] today, what about yesterday and days before that” because the transactions being looked into by the joint committee inquiry “happened years ago.” According to Saguisag, the procedure was also “unprecedented” because the Senate probers should have given the parties to be affected a chance to attend the proceedings. “But we will ask Senator Gordon to clarify the matter first,” Saguisag said.

 

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