Senators want Iggy Arroyo invited to PNP choppers probe

At least two senators on Tuesday said they want to invite Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio "Iggy" Arroyo to the Senate blue ribbon committee's inquiry next week on the Philippine National Police's (PNP) choppers controversy. "In behalf of the committee on the accountability of public offcers and investigations (blue ribbon), I am inviting Iggy Arroyo to appear in the next hearing," Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada told reporters in an interview. But Estrada said he still has to consult blue ribbon committee chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III on the matter. In a separate interview on Tuesday, Guingona said he agrees with Estrada. "In my personal opinion, I agree sapagkat mas malaki yung public interest issue dito kaysa yung parliamentary courtesy at sa tingin ko dapat sa blue ribbon niya ipaliwanag yung pinalabas nila," he said. Under the tradition of inter-parliamentary courtesy, a member of a legislative chamber may not invite a member of another chamber to appear in any committee investigation. But Guingona quickly stressed that the decision of the committee was not his to make. "We have to consult all the other members of the committee. We will do that," he said. The senators made the statements after Iggy Arroyo defended his brother, former First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike" Arroyo, from accusations that he played a big role in the allegedly anomalous sale of helicopters to the PNP in 2009. Defense Iggy said his brother did not own the Robinson helicopters sold as new to the PNP since they were only leased from Lionair, Inc.— the company owned by Archibald Po, who had linked the former First Gentleman to the scandal. The lawmaker said Po “concealed" the fact that Lionair executed a contract of lease with the Arroyo-owned company, LTA Inc., in March 2004. But in a statement on Tuesday, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said that the lease documents presented by Iggy allegedly contained "several contradictions." He said that the lease agreement does not bear the signature of witnesses, which he said is standard procedure. He said he likewise found it suspicious that some of the choppers only arrived after the lease was supposedly signed. “So the choppers that were supposed to have been leased had not even entered the picture," he said. Estrada, however, said that it was natural for Iggy to come to the rescue of his brother. "Is there anything new? Siya ang umako ng Jose Pidal," he said. In 2003, Iggy had also defended his brother in the controversy involving the multi-million peso Jose Pidal accounts. Iggy claimed his brother did not own the accounts, saying he opened the accounts in two local banks for security purposes. But Lacson warned the brothers to "do better than insult the Filipino people’s intelligence again." — RSJ, GMA News