$15-K dinner treat for Arroyo linked to Suarez's business interest

In politics, there's no such thing as a free lunch or dinner. Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez’s $15,000-dinner treat at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse in Washington D.C. to celebrate the President and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo’s 41st wedding anniversary has been linked to the business interests of the lawmaker’s family, according to a group of lawyers from Suarez’s province. The Sentro Gabay Legal sa Quezon led by its convenor, Frumencio Pulgar, claimed that a corporation owned by the congressman's family is awaiting the go-signal for the release of a P1-billion government loan for the construction of a 10-megawatt power plant in Quezon that will cost $27.7 million. Suarez dismissed the allegation. He said the US blowout for Mrs. Arroyo and her party was not meant to influence the President’s decision on the proposed project. But GMA News’ Sherry Ann Torres reported on Thursday that according to Pulgar’s group, Suarez's family-owned Coco Resources Corp. (CRC), is asking state-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) for the P1-billion loan. President Arroyo appoints directors to the DBP board. Pulgar said the power plant could be used to monopolize electricity rates in the province. “Madidikta ng CRC ang presyo ng kuryente doon (CRC could dictate electricity rates there)," he told GMA News.

In his blog, Pulgar says CRC is a private stock corporation that was registered with the Securities in Exchange Commission on Jan. 14, 2008. He said Suarez’s siblings, children, and in-laws are the firm’s incorporators. Suarez does not deny that CRC is owned by his family. But he fended off charges that wining and dining the president was intended to grease the release of the P1-billion loan. “I’m not borrowing money. Neither (am I) influencing the President or the members of the board of DBP because the board has been there… for quite a while," Suarez told GMA News. Jose Antonio Lopez, Suarez’s son-in-law and one of CRC’s incorporators, said there was nothing irregular about the CRC’s proposed project. “The project (is really) above board," Lopez told GMA News. But Pulgar said Suarez could be violating Article VI, section 14 of the 1987 Constitution because the politician, as member of the House of Representatives “is disqualified to directly or indirectly be interested financially in any contract with, or in any franchise or special privilege granted by the government…" But according to Suarez, only the four highest elected officials and their relatives up to the third degree of consanguinity are prohibited by law from entering into projects with the government or borrowing public funds. The lawmaker was referring to section 5 of Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, which states that, “It shall be unlawful for the spouse or for any relative, by consanguinity or affinity, within the third civil degree, of the President of the Philippines, the Vice-President of the Philippines, the President of the Senate, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to intervene, directly or indirectly, in any business, transaction, contract or application with the Government." - GMANews.TV