FVR to Miriam: Invite Gaddafi to Senate probe

Former President Fidel Ramos has denied receiving funds from ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, even calling on Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago to invite the foreign leader to her proposed Senate investigation on the issue. In a statement issued Tuesday, Ramos said: "If I may suggest respectfully: Please also invite Col. Gaddafi and Amb. Burghardt to the same Senate investigation desired by Sen. Santiago. Per his own statement on worldwide media the other day, Gaddafi is still very much alive (not hearsay), and may be available to shed light on this matter." Just a day earlier, Santiago called on the Senate blue ribbon and electoral reforms committees to investigate the US Embassy cable released by WikiLeaks which states that Ramos allegedly received $200,000 (equivalent to P5 million during that time) from Gaddafi when Ramos and former House Speaker Jose de Venecia visited Tripoli in 1992. But Ramos is denying the allegation. "I totall deny Sen. Miriam Santiago's accusation... to the effect that I received P5 million from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as campaign contribution just before the May 1992 presidential elections," he said. He likewise said that Santiago - who lost to him during the 1992 presidential elections - wanting to put him behind bars was "not new." "Some years ago, she publicly accused me of trying to assassinate her by bumping a military jeep into her vehicle, which is the reason - according to her - of her various chronic ailments," he said. "The Wikileaks report on which Sen. Santiago's latest attempt to have me incarcerated is hearsay by itself, and is further based on a string of successive hearsay conversations," he added. Still, Ramos said he "welcomes" the Senate probe on the issue. — RSJ, GMA News