By Christian V. Esguerra, Marlon Ramos
Philippine Daily Inquirer
The houses that two former generals allegedly bought or rented using taxpayer money allotted to the Armed Forces took up much of Friday’s hearing at the Senate.
The blue-ribbon committee resumed its inquiry into the controversial plea bargain between state prosecutors and former military comptroller Carlos Garcia with the suicide of former AFP chief Angelo Reyes casting a cloud over the proceedings.
But nothing was said of Reyes’ alleged receipt of money from a purported military slush fund. Instead, the senators zeroed in on the houses, including a mansion at the posh Acropolis subdivision in Quezon City that then AFP chief Diomedio Villanueva allegedly used as a second home.
Whistle-blower George Rabusa, the military budget officer at that time, testified that the mansion was rented at P120,000 a month and that he paid the full P1.4-million rental for a year.
Also discussed were a total of 10 houses in the United States, all registered under the name of Erlinda Yambao Ligot, the wife of Villanueva’s then comptroller, Jacinto Ligot.
Sen. Jinggoy Estrada showed Jacinto Ligot a picture of one of the houses, a two-story care home in California, but he denied any knowledge of the property.
Apart from the houses, the Ligots amassed around P740 million in peso and dollar deposits from 2001 to 2004, according to Sen. Franklin Drilon, who cited bank records submitted to a Makati regional trial court.
Incredible sums
The committee chair, Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, was incredulous over why Ligot was never charged with plunder despite the amount of his alleged loot.
“How did you accumulate all these sums?†Drilon asked Ligot.
In response, Ligot invoked his right against self-incrimination.
Drilon distributed copies of a summary of deposits, withdrawals and balances frozen by Ligot, his wife Erlinda and their children Paulo, Riza and Miguel.
The transactions also included brother-in-law Edgardo Yambao, one Gilda Velasquez and Antonio and Ma. Cristina Laurel.
Citing the document, Drilon said Ligot first deposited $351,841.60 at Citibank (account number 8-143020917) in 2001. The total deposit of the Ligots amounted to $554,558.41 by the end of the year.
In 2005, Ligot and company’s deposit totaled $8.7 million. But following withdrawals, authorities were able to freeze only $1.3 million.
Erlinda Ligot had been invited to attend the hearing but did not show up. She sent the committee a letter saying the matter was “covered by the principle of sub judice, meaning it was under judicial consideration.
Estrada warned that Ligot’s wife could be subpoenaed to shed light on the two houses she had allegedly bought. The senator showed pictures of these pieces of property—one in Anaheim and another one in Buena Park, both in California—at the hearing last week.
“It’s recorded in the US that there are 10 properties under the name of Erlinda Yambao or Erlinda Ligot,†Estrada said.
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