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By Francis Earl A. Cueto, Reporter
The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG)
is moving to collect from Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., $120 million
in overdue payment for an alleged behest loan taken out nearly three
decades ago.
PCGG Chairman Camilo Sabio on Monday cited de
Venecia’s failure to comply with a payback agreement made in July
1988 for the commission’s revival of the case. The borrower’s
Landoil Resources Corp. obtained the loan in the 1970s.
De Venecia also faces an inquiry into his
allegedly unethical practices in the House of Representatives filed
by lawyer Roel Pulido, the same person who filed the so-called weak
impeachment case against President Gloria Arroyo.
Plus, the Senate will also investigate him on a
controversial multimillion-railway deal, NorthRail project.
Malacañang supposedly wants him out as Speaker, although Palace
officials deny this.
Sabio on Monday said he had told Solicitor
General Agnes Devanadera in letter that the behest-loan case can now
be reestablished. He pointed to de Venecia’s alleged violation of
the terms of a deed of assignment between the PCGG and Landoil.
Sabio said the case had been shelved to give the Speaker time to pay
up.
“It appears from the records submitted by our
Research and Development Department that de Venecia and the
assignors [his affiliates] in the deed of assignment have not fully
complied with their obligations and undertakings,” Sabio said in
his letter.
Lawyer Jay Miguel, PCGG director for legal
services, said he had been unaware of the letter dated November 22.
He added that his office had been bypassed. But then, Miguel said,
“I just take orders from the chairman.”
In the deed of assignment, de Venecia was
identified as president of Landoil. The document stated that he had
agreed to pay back the government the $120 million. The PCGG tried
but failed to collect from him after the 1986 People Power revolt
that ousted then-President Ferdinand Marcos.
The PCGG said its move against the Speaker is
not a political one, only a part of its efforts to recover unpaid
loans.
De Venecia had been at odds with the
administration. Rumors of a rift between him and President Arroyo
surfaced when his son, Jose “Joey” de Venecia 3rd, in September
turned whistle-blower on another controversial deal, the National
Broadband Network project.
Father and son later claimed that they had
received death threats over the project.
The Landoil loan was described as “behest”
since 45 percent of the company’s outstanding capital stock
belonged to Marcos and that Philippine Export Guaranty (Philguarantee)
agreed to grant the $120-million loan, it being a foreign-currency
one.
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