Senate panel invites Iggy Arroyo to PNP choppers probe

(Updated 1:26 p.m.) The Senate blue ribbon committee has formally invited Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio “Iggy" Arroyo to the chamber's inquiry on the Philippine National Police's (PNP) chopper controversy next week. In a letter dated August 16, the Senate blue ribbon committee invited Iggy Arroyo to its fourth hearing on the PNP's multimillion purchase of choppers in 2009 on Monday at 9 a.m. The Senate panel also asked the lawmaker to submit before the hearing a sworn statement or affidavit detailing his "knowledge or participation" on the alleged anomalous acquisition of helicopters. It cited Article 6 Section 5 of the rules of the blue ribbon committee which says that: "witnesses shall be required to file, at least three days before the scheduled hearing, written statements of their proposed testimonies which shall be subscribed and sworn to before the committee general counsel, or in his absence, the committee secretary, to whom the documents shall be submitted." On Tuesday, Senate blue ribbon committee chair Teofisto Guingona III said he agreed with the proposal of Senate Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada to invite Iggy Arroyo due to "public interest." This despite the tradition of the so-called inter-parliamentary courtesy, where a member of a legislative chamber may not invite a member of another chamber to appear in any committee investigation. "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," Guingona said on Tuesday. Defense The invitation was issued after the lawmaker 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. Mike Arroyo has repeatedly denied the allegation. Iggy Arroyo 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 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 Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday said that the lease documents presented by Iggy Arroyo 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. — Kim Tan/RSJ/KBK, GMA News