Big Business Mafia THE GRAND CONSPIRACY TO WRECK THE ERAP ADMINISTRATION
A news daily headlined Monday, October 30, 2000, the existence of an oust-Erap plot allegedly masterminded by Big Business executives with leaders of the Church and the previous administrations, in which the honcho of the United Opposition-Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo -ends up either as a puppet Chief Executive or a short-term Malaca�ang tenant.
According to this newspaper, a secret group called Omerta is behind a so-called "Oplan Excelsis", a conspiracy to topple President Estrada, which was allegedly hatched as soon as the former action film star won two years ago with the widest margin ever in the country's history of presidential balloting. The Omerta group which was reportedly failed in its two previous attempts to push the President's resignation, found a leeway to mount a third attempt when Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson his jueteng expose against Mr. Estrada last month.
"The plan was hatched shortly after the election of (President) Estrada," the informant, who allegedly had access to two Omerta members, was quoted as saying in the newspaper report.
"Oplan Excelsis," if it really exists, is a revelation because it reinforces the assertion of Malaca�ang that a destabilization job was launched by the anti-Erap forces right on Day One of the Estrada presidency. This seems to explain why the Makati business Club (MBC) and the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) had backed the Erap-resign call just days after waving separate surveys showing that their members felt only the President resignation could arrest the economy's freefall.
It also bolsters last week's allegation by Rep. Anthony Dequina that Makati-based businessmen have put up a "campaign kitty" to bankroll the "Chavit Singson show", which has served as the catalyst of recent moves by the opposition to demand Mr. Estrada's resignation, impeachment or ouster through the sort of People Power that brought down the Marcos dictatorship in February 1986.
What is disturbing for those in the United Opposition front, is that the Vice President and its other leaders may end up as Omerta stooges or actually have short shelf lives under this post-Estrada scenario.
This is because the Veep does not figure in the long-term script of "Oplan Excelsis" as-according to the news report-both" business and Church groups are not too comfortable with her as President, since she too, is vulnerable to charges of having links with gambling lords like (Bong) Pineda." The opposition Sanlakas earlier said that Macapagal-Arroyo should resign too because of her close ties with mayor Lilia Pineda and her husband, suspected jueteng lord Bong Pineda, who, like the Veep, are natives of Lubao, Pampanga.
"Moreover, the source said that the Vice President's spouse, Mike Arroyo, may prove to be a liability during her incumbency," the newspaper disclose, pointing to "past reports of unexplained wealth in properties acquired abroad that may crop when she is President."
In the event that president Estrada resigns, the short-term scenario of Omerta is for the Veep, who assumes the presidency, to nominate to Congress any of three candidates - Senators Serge Osme�a III, Ramon Magsaysay or Raul Roco - as the new vice president. (Under Article VII, Section 9 of the Constitution, whenever there is a vacancy in the vice presidency, the President shall nominate a Vice President from among senators or representatives, and who shall assume office upon confirmation by a majority vote of Senate and House members, voting separately.)
As part of its deal with Macapagal-Arroyo, the Omerta group will reportedly choose the majority of her Cabinet members, ensuring that "the Omerta group will exercise control over Arroyo," said the news report.
Under a separate plan f action, the newspaper reported that Macapagal-Arroyo will be compelled to appoint Reporma chief Renato de Villa as her defense secretary, who will then run for senator in the 2001 elections with the backing of the Big Business and Church groups. Whoever will be picked as Macapagal-Arroyo's vice president will resign before the polls to run for senator, so that De Villa can then be nominated and elected Vice President through the Art. VII, Sec. 9 route of the Constitution.
Since Macapagal-Arroyo is not the "preferred choice" of the Omerta group, the report said the plotters are positioning de villa in the direct line of constitutional succession. Thus, to perfect its control over Philippine business and politics, the Omerta group will work or the election of De Villa as president in the 2004 elections, with the support of the Church and Big business groups.
The Omerta group is said to be composed of the same Big Business and Church leaders who pushed for the candidacy of De Villa in the 1998 polls and worked- but-failed - to have then -President Ramos anoint him as the Lakas standard bearer. This item also buttress the contention of the President and his senior aides that the support of the MBC and MAP executives for the oust-Erap call is no longer surprising because they had backed a rival candidate in 1998 and could not accept the fact that a college drop-out like Mr. Estrada would clobber their chosen bet.
Who is using whom?
Tea-leaf readers are quick to suggest that Gov. Chavit Singson has become an unwitting tool of Lakas in the party's efforts to end the Estrada presidency well ahead of 2004. With Singson, the opposition has found a launcing pad from where to hit hard President Estrada in a runup to next year's national and local polls.
However, there is another angle here. Given the inconsistencies in Chavit's statements, it seems likely that it could be the other way around: that Chavit is the one taking Lakas for a ride. A week into his news conferences and congressional appearances, the governor has yet to show solid evidence that the President is on the take from jueteng lords.
The Chavit bombshell is turning out to be the dud. And Lakas could end up being the laughing stock in this controversy, having fallen into Chavit's trap.
Chavit, who obviously wants to be the hero, has become a big heel with the chain of inconsistencies he has been mouthing.
For instance, he admitted issuing his affidavit confessing he had been delivering his gains in jueteng to the President last September yet, but decided to come out with it only in October.
The reason was he lost his "political marbles". He admits running the "jueteng empire" in Ilocos, but came B-2-B (bingo 2-ball), a legal scheme meant to displace jueteng. What hurts most was that the franchise to run the latter was given to his cousin and foresworn political foe, Eric Singson.
He seduced the Lakas party into backing up his unfounded claims and the opposition party hit his every sally hook line and sinker. Now, it is clear Chavit took Lakas for a ride with his unsubstantiated charges.
More of Singson's inconsistencies:
These are lies and nothing but lies. The sad thing is it is echoed by ambitious opposition politicians and leftist elements and was even taken as gospel truth by Cardinal Sin and his bishop cohorts.
- He claimed he delivered P32 to P35 million in monthly "jueteng" collections to the Palace, but the ledger he was brandishing as "proof" showed that the monthly collection from April to August this year was a high P14.7 million to a low of P4.05 million. Maybe, he pocketed the difference.
- Chavit claimed at first that he deposited his collections in his bank account, but changed his tune later and said he meant the President's bank account. What? He is even the President's financial wizard?
- He said he gave P130 million of the P200 million tobacco tax share of Ilocos Sur to the President, but the Commission on Audit reported that P141 million had been liquidated by the provincial government, having been used for various projects like the construction of flue-curing barns.
As Goebbels once said, repeat the lies and they become truth.
Lakas-NUCD has P1-B impeachment fund to buy Congressmen vs Erap
On top of a P 100 million media "battle fund," the Lakas-NUCD has also piled up a P1-billion war chest which will be distributed to congressmen so they would support the impeachment case set to be lodged by a Lakas lawmaker against President Estrada.
A source said these twin funds are now being used by Lakas-NUCD operatives and jueteng operators in a massive mudslinging and disinformation campaign geared to pull down the curtain on the Estrada administration, grab political power for the Lakas-NUCD, and extend the life of illegal gambling whose death warrant had been signed by Mr. Estrada.
The same source noted that Lakas Rep. Heherson Alvarez has so far claimed to have bagged the support of more than 70 congressmen from his impeachment complaint against the President.
"The fund is intended to buy the support of the congressmen. The money aims to make the impeachment case fly even if it is weighed down by the very clear fact that there is no evidence whatsoever to back up the complaint," the source pointed out.
A P10 million payoff has been budgeted for each congressman who will sign the resolution impeaching the President.
Half of the P1-billion fund was raised by jueteng lords fighting to fend off their extinction under President Estrada's watch.
Lakas put up the second P500 million, thanks to the scandalously huge payoffs that the group of former President Ramos, had pocketed from the Amari land deal and the Centennial Expo scam.
The source added that the existence of the impeachment fund was virtually confirmed by Teodoro Benigno's column Monday (Oct 16) in which he detailed the meeting of Pastor "Boy" Saycon, a known Ramos supporter, and former Tarlac Rep. Jose "Peping" Cojuangco, who is reportedly launching the Gising na Pilipino (GNP) Movement to press the President to resign.
"This demolition job against the President is well-orchestrated and more importantly, well-oiled with money," the source said.
The erstwhile ruling party and the jueteng lords fighting for their survival and their gold mines have attacked the President from all fronts, through a phony impeachment suit, a disinformation campaign in the media, and their hoarse calls for the President to step down, the source said.
For the disinformation thrust, the jueteng cartel and the Lakas-NUCD clique have commissioned two PR practitioners with lose ties to the previous administration to command the media offensive.
Jueteng lords sealed an unholy alliance with the Lakas-NUCD after President Estrada moved to stamp out illegal gambling in the country.
Lakas-NUCD operatives, the source said, are orchestrating to sneak Ramos back to Malaca�ang so they can enjoy once again the no-holds barred thievery they engaged in during the Ramos administration.
Jueteng Conspiracy behind oust-Erap Plot
Smarting from Malacanang efforts to wipe out illegal gambling, the country's jueteng cartel is bankrolling a sleek disinformation campaign designed to knock over the Estrada administration and preserve its control over the highly lucrative numbers game, it was learned yesterday.
In advancing this anti-administration drive, these gambling syndicates have, according to reliable sources, found a "ready and willing" ally in a powerful clique in the opposition Lakas-NUCD that wants to grab political power way ahead of the 2004 presidential election.
These sources revealed that this unholy alliance of big-time jueteng syndicates and Lakas-NUCD mandarins have set this disinformation ploy in motion through Pastor "Boy" Saycon, an operative of former President Ramos and jueteng bagman in the past two administrations.
To advance their cause, the jueteng cartel and the Lakas-NUCD faction have signed up the services of black-propaganda experts Bubby Dacer and Antonio Abaya, giving them a P100 million media fund to guarantee optimum exposure for their anti-Estrada tirades.
Friday night's rapid spread of bum report on the supposed declaration of a 30-day emergency rule by President Estrada, along with earlier rumors on the mass resignation of Cabinet members, has been traced by the sources to Saycon, a black-propaganda guru.
The sources who learned of the hush-hush talks between the gambling lords and Lakas-NUCD leaders said the jueteng cartel had decided to torpedo the Estrada administration after realizing that Malaca�ang was, for the first time ever, bent on eradicating jueteng and all other forms of illegal gambling in the country.
In order to eliminate jueteng without economically dislocating hundred thousands of families dependent on it, the President has approved Pagcor's Bingo2-ball, which is similar to jueteng and could absorb its nationwide network or cobradors or collectors.
But the difference with Bingo 2-ball, said the sources, is that the games would be legal, transparent and, more importantly, revenues would go to the national government in the form of franchise fees and taxes, instead of the gambling syndicates.
The sources noted that Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson himself had admitted before the Senate blue ribbon committee that although he had prepared his anti-Estrada affidavit in September yet, he had deferred his actual expose to this month because he was still hoping that President Estrada would accede to his request to scrap bingo 2-ball in his Ilocos Sur homeprovince.
"To prevent Malacanang from killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, the jueteng lords have decided to go for the jugular by crafting and funding a plan to topple President Estrada", one of the sources said. "These gambling lords know that unless President Estrada is booted out, their goose is cooked".
According to the sources, it was too easy for the jueteng cartel to win the support of the Lakas-NUCD faction whose leaders apparently cannot wait for four more years to take another crack at Malaca�ang.
"It is a win-win situation for Lakas actually" said one source, noting that these stalwarts of the former administrations are betting that the destabilization ploy would lead to the ouster or resignation of President Estrada or, at the very least, position the opposition better in next year's midterm polls.
"With their expected election of most Lakas candidates for congressional seats in the 2001 polls, they believe that there would be a better chance for an impeach-Erap move to succeed in the second half of the Estrada presidency, " the source said.
"With both Senate and the House of Representatives now under the firm control of the ruling LAMP, these anti-Erap groups know deep in their hearts that there is zero chance for the impeachment move to prosper at this time," the source added.
The source said Saycon is the logical point man, having been the jueteng bagman for ex-Representatives Jose Cojuangco, Jr. and Emigdio Tanjuatco Jr, in the Aquino administration, and also for the powers-that-be in the Ramos administration. Saycon is believed to have overhauled the intelligentsia system by centralizing collections at the Palace.
Tanjuatco is the lead counsel of Singson. Ex-budget Secretary Salvador Enriquez, a Ramos loyalist, had paid for the Club Filipino function room where Singson held his press conference last Monday.
The sources said the Palace had managed to nip in the bud the initial salvos of this jueteng conspiracy, but the sources believe Saycon's group is poised to launch more disinformation drives in the days ahead, given the awesome financial resources that the gambling syndicates have put up at its disposal.