Jinggoy: Ligot's wife could be arrested for snubbing Senate probe

Senate President Pro Tempore Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada said they will have the wife of former military comptroller Lt. Gen. Jacinto Ligot arrested if she still fails to show up for the Senate's inquiry on the alleged corruption in the military on Thursday. "We will be forced to issue a warrant of arrest (if she still doesn't show up)," Estrada told reporters in an interview. Erlinda Ligot was accused of purchasing several properties in the United States, including a house in Anaheim (reportedly worth $504,000) and Buena Park ($183,868) in California. However, she has twice failed to show up before the Senate to explain herself. During the last hearing on February 24, she sent a letter though her lawyer to say that she was confined at the Veteran's Memorial Medical Center (VMMC). But Estrada said based on his information, Mrs. Ligot checked out of the VMMC right after the hearing. "Halatang-halata naman (It's obvious) that she is feigning her illness. The Senate doctors maybe will report tomorrow," he said. Estrada said they will only be able to wrap up the hearings after Mrs. Ligot and her brother Edgardo Yambao testify before the Senate blue ribbon committee. Yambao supposedly acquired P300 million in cash and assets from 1999 to 2004 despite being unemployed. Drilon said Yambao retired in 1999 and did not file an income tax return from then until 2004. Senator Franklin Drilon earlier said Yambao will appear during Thursday's probe. Estrada said Yambao went to the Senate the other day to clarify that he is not in hiding. Yambao also reportedly told him said that the issue is affecting his business and that he has had to hire bodyguards. "Kung mayroon talaga siyang negosyo, bakit hindi niya dineclare sa income tax return niya at wala siyang ITR (If he really does have a business, why didn't he declare it in his income tax return?)," he said. Jacinto Ligot, a retired three-star general, was military comptroller ahead of former Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia. Garcia, comptroller from 1999 to 2001, is accused of amassing more than P300 million in state funds while he was still in service. Both Ligot and Garcia denied being involved in alleged corruption while in active service. — RSJ, GMA News