It was an invitation for coffee at 8 a.m. The host was a member of the exclusive Manila Polo Club inside Forbes Park. Sen. Loren Legarda was also a resident at Forbes’ No. 40 Cambridge Circle. It was her territory.
The invitee was then the congressman representing Buhay party list in the House of Representatives, the former Manila mayor Lito Atienza.
Why Atienza? From 2016 to 2019, he was the representative of the House Minority in the Committee on Legislative Franchises. Atienza was in the political opposition to the supermajority in the House of Rodrigo Duterte.
Why the host invited him at the Manila Polo Club was intriguing. After settling down to their table, Legarda asked Atienza the forthright question forthwith.
Lito I understand you are against the granting of a national franchise to my son’s company.
There was no hesitation in exposing the meeting’s intention: a senator was lobbying a congressman for a bill benefitting the senator’s son. The conflict of interest was outright garapal.
Atienza explained: I wasn’t really against. I just thought it wasn’t needed. A solar company can exist and operate without a franchise from Congress. So why is your son asking for a franchise, a national one at that? It will be like he will be the only one operating in the country, with the sanction of the Philippine government.
The mother replied: Lito tulungan mo na lang. Magaling na bata yan. Matalino yan.
Atienza: His intelligence is not the question. We need electrification. Solar power is one of the solutions. I am very careful in approving franchises that may not work in favor of the nation.
Legarda: Well, I understand your position. But I want you to know that I am chairman of the Committee on Finance in the Senate. I can help you with a 10 million fund for any of your projects if you help my son.
Atienza: Senadora, kung yan ang paguusapan, I’m out of it.
Atienza said he then stood up but a common friend of theirs who was present and who acted as their go-between prevailed upon him. Atienza said the person was a former governor of Antique.
Atienza listened again but in the end reiterated his position: I believe he doesn’t need a franchise.
At this point of Atienza’s narration, it is clear that the purpose of the meeting was not coffee. It was to wine and dine him in the figurative sense.
The event narrated by Atienza happened before the House passed in 2019 a national franchise for Leandro Leviste’s Solar Para sa Bayan. Atienza now claims he was right: with a small capitalization of only 1 million (later increased to 1 billion), Leviste would greatly benefit by selling the company.
Legarda responded that the pay-off claim is utterly false, baseless and an unfair attack on her integrity. She has not elaborated on the Atienza narrative point by point. Her spokesperson, the self-proclaimed “human rights lawyer” Tony La Vin̈a, has been silent on the Manila Polo Club meeting even if the incident can be easily verifiable.
