Banayo: 'Attack dog' was paid P9M

The camp of Sen. Panfilo Lacson yesterday said Malacañang paid P9 million to arms dealer Blanquita Pelaez as part of the supposed P30 million which the PNP supposedly owed her for the handcuffs deal.

Lito Banayo, Lacson's political consultant, said Pelaez herself made the admission about the P9 million payment by Malacañang in an interview with Glenda Gloria published in Newsbreak magazine on Aug. 22, 2001.

Banayo said the pay-off was also contained in the 15-page report of Army Col. Mario Chan of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, who headed the joint ISAFP-PNP team that went to the United States in June 2001 to look into the alleged bank accounts of Lacson.

The Chan report, which was submitted to then ISAFP chief Col. Victor Corpus, was the basis of the series of news stories run by a national daily and which became the subject of several counts of libel cases filed by Lacson against Corpus and the newspaper's editors and reporters.

"This only confirms that Blanquita Pelaez is part of the government's wrecking crew against Senator Lacson which started in June 2001 and is still continuing especially after the senator's exposé on the First Gentleman's money laundering operations," Banayo said.

Banayo said Pelaez, whom the Lacson camp earlier called an "attack dog," was part of the ISAFP-PNP team that went to the US and tried to fabricate bank accounts supposedly owned by Lacson. Aside from Chan and Pelaez, the member of the team included Mary "Rosebud" Ong, Senior Supt. Rodolfo "Boogie" Mendoza, SPO2 Egdon Liscano and lawyer Stephen Jaromay.

Banayo also pointed out that Mendoza is a member of Philippine Military Class '78, the class that adopted President Arroyo. Mendoza is also a classmate of Senior Supt. Romeo Maninding, the current live-in partner of Pelaez, Banayo said.

"It is therefore undeniable that there is a Malacañang hand in Pelaez' media exposure which incidentally is also being handled by the media operators of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo," Banayo said.

Banayo maintained that Pelaez' allegations against Lacson are "purely figments of her imagination" aimed at discrediting the senator as part of the Malacañang defense of the Mr. Arroyo who was earlier accused of money laundering activities by using a fictitious bank account in the name of "Jose Pidal."

Banayo said Pelaez is obviously barking up the wrong tree because the handcuffs deal was consummated during the term of PNP Director General Recaredo Sarmiento II in 1996 and the president then was Fidel V. Ramos.

The PNP then abided by the decision of the National Police Commission in June or July 1997 which ruled that the handcuffs contract of Pelaez was not valid unless she pays the taxes and import duties of the imported Smith and Wesson handcuffs.

Banayo said the top management of Smith and Wesson-USA even wrote the PNP confirming that Pelaez will be the one paying the taxes and import duties.

Banayo said the handcuffs issue dragged on under three PNP chiefs - Director Generals Santiago Alinõ, Roberto Lastimoso and Edmundo Larroza - until Lacson became PNP chief in November 1999.

During his term as PNP chief, Lacson also abided by the Napolcom ruling that Pelaez be the one to pay the taxes and import duties. Had Lacson gone against the Napolcom decision, he would have been charged with graft before the Ombudsman, according to Banayo.

"It is thus surprising why Pelaez will single out Sen. Lacson as the respondent for her case filed with the US courts. If there was no politics involved here, Pelaez should have charged instead the PNP since it was the party which entered into the handcuffs contract," Banayo said.

Last Aug. 19, California Superior Court Judge James Richman ruled that it was unconstitutional to force Lacson to pay the $3 million, which Pelaez is asking the US courts.

Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said the Palace was not involved in the re-surfacing of Pelaez.

He said the row between Lacson and Pelaez, who called a press conference organized by the Arroyo camp Monday, is not an issue concerning the Palace.

"We do not wish to comment on this issue," Bunye said.