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Key witnesses in past Senate inquiries and investigations on the
Jose Pidal, jueteng scandal, Hello Garci and lately, the broadband
controversies, had reportedly undergone trauma and distress due to
alleged intimidations and threats they had received to prevent them
from testifying.
Senators Kiko Pangilinan and Gringo Honasan are
now mulling over the possibility of Congress’s having its own
Witness Protection Program to encourage people to testify freely in
congressional inquiries. They no longer want Congress to rely
completely on a similar program of the Department of Justice. Well,
people will talk freely if they know their lives and economic
standing are amply protected.. I say their proposal merits serious
study although I am doubtful if the Senate has the manpower,
resources and facilities to undertake this.
Senators Kiko and Gringo’s moves became more
urgent with the experience of broadband witness Rodolfo “Jun”
Lozada. Lozada prefers to be under the protection of La Salle
brothers and sisters rather than under the DOJ, and for good reason.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez has already threatened to
investigate Lozada for alleged violation of the Ant-Graft and
Corrupt Practices Act, and Lozada’s documents at his former office
had already been seized by the National Bureau of Investigation.
Senator Kiko said the law providing for the
protection of witnesses must be amended to include those testifying
against anomalies in the government such as Lozada. Gringo agrees
that it is about time that the Senate comes up with its own scheme
to encourage more witnesses to come out to the open and testify
regardless on the involvement of known personalities in graft and
corruption.
The proposal of Kiko and Gringo is laudable but
I wonder if it could be implemented. The Senate has no safehouse for
witnesses and their families. Lozada stayed for a time at the office
of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano. The scheme also entails additional
manpower and funding. Retired Gen. Jose Balajadia, the Senate
sergeant-at-arms, said securing a witness is very expensive, so it
becomes doubly so if the members of the witness’ family is
included. Anyway, this move deserves serious consideration.
All quiet on the JdV front
From my email came this account by dear friend
Tong Payumo of his visit to former Speaker Jose de Venecia. Here’s
Tong’s narrative:
“I visited Joe de V in his residence on the
morning after that fateful ‘night of a hundred knives.’ We were
together for almost 12 years in the House, but I have not visited
him since I got out of Subic and when he was still entrenched as
Speaker. I thought it was better that I was seeing him when I
didn’t have any favor to ask, and he was absolutely powerless to
grant any.
“It was already 9 a.m. and no one else was in
the sala. I was alone for one full hour before the media people
started coming in to interview the ex-Speaker. Yes, there were some
manangs who arrived later, but they were relatives from Pangasinan.
There were no congressmen, local officials or businessmen. Outside
the house, the street was unusually empty of cars.
“For those who knew him well, it was not
hard to like Joe de V. Although prone to hyperbolic statements, he
was amiable to a fault. He dislikes confrontation. To him there is
no gap that cannot be bridged, and no quarrel that cannot be
resolved or smoothed over . . . a quintessential diplomat or a
shrewd politician. But there is no mean bone in his body. How come
he was suddenly abandoned?”
I remember the weeks and even months after the
1998 presidential elections where JdV lost to Erap Estrada. His
residence was dimly lit. He had very few visitors—none of them
VIPs. Manay Gina, his amiable wife, waxed philosophical about this:
“Now we know who are our friends are.”
Another friend, Jojo Taduran from Camarines Sur
and now based in Canada, sent an email in reaction to my column
“Kicking a fallen man.”
“You are right. The very political leaders who
engineered the ouster of former Speaker Jose de Venecia were not
with the group who founded Lakas. They were on the other side of the
political fence like Rep. Luis R. Villafuerte who supported the
tandem of President Joseph Estrada and Sen. Edgardo Angara (in 1998.
“Mr.Villafuerte left the LDP after Mr. Estrada
was ousted as President and joined President Arroyo. He putup a
gubernatorial candidate in Camarines Sur against his own son, Gov.
Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte, who won by landslide, and put up his
nephew, Jojo Villafuerte, against his cousin, Naga City Mayor Jess
Robredo who won.”
efrendanao2003@yahoo.com
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