Miriam wants WikiLeaks exposé vs FVR probed

Sen. Miriam Santiago on Monday called on the Senate blue ribbon and electoral reforms committees to investigate a report that former President Fidel V. Ramos received cash donation from ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi before the 1992 elections. A report on GMA News TV said online whistle-blower WikiLeaks has bared a US embassy cable that stated that Ramos received $200,000 from Gaddafi when Ramos and former House Speaker Jose de Venecia visited Tripoli in 1992. The report said the amount was equivalent to P5 million that time. It said Ramos and De Venecia went to Libya in connection with the peace talks between the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), of which Libya was the mediator. Santiago, who lost to Ramos in the 1992 presidential elections, said Ramos may have violated the Election Code by receiving a cash donation from a foreign source during the election period.

Section 96 of the Election Code “prohibits candidates from either soliciting or receiving contributions from foreign sources, and penalizes the candidate with disqualification or removal from office." “To allow Ramos to continue his pose as a Philippine president is to continue the culture of impunity which has been rejected by the Senate with the recent unanimous vote to concur with the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court" Santiago said. Despite her lost to Ramos, Santiago refused to concede the elections and instead filed an election protest with the Supreme Court on the ground of widespread election fraud, including a nationwide power blackout during the period of canvass of the votes. The TV report quoted Ramos’ spokesman Ed Malay as saying that they will answer Santiago’s accusation at a press conference on Tuesday. De Venecia, meanwhile, has yet to comment on the accusation, the report said. - KBK, GMA News