FORMER Vice President Teofisto Guingona will launch tonight his book, “Fight for the Filipino,” in which he reveals the reasons for his disillusionment with and eventual breakaway from President Gloria Macapagal–Arroyo, including her supposed order to then Justice Secretary Hernando Perez to approve the $470 million controversial agreement with the Argentinian power firm IMPSA (Industrias Melaurgicas Pescarmona Socieda Anonima).
A Newsbreak report has quoted Perez as denying Guingona’s claim. Perez has been charged with robbery and extortion before the Sandiganbayan as a result of the IMPSA deal. (Read Luz Rimban’s “In haste, government approves controversial IMPSA deal” written in April 2001.)
In his book, Guingona also discloses a proposal he received shortly after resigning as Arroyo’s foreign affairs secretary to have the president assassinated.
Excerpts from “Fight for the Filipino”:
On IMPSA:
I was also named secretary of foreign affairs. I therefore sat in the cabinet. Protocol dictated that I sit at the right side of the President, where I found my seatmate to the right, the Secretary of Justice, Hernando Perez. In one of those early meetings, the heated topic in the newspapers was IMPSA, Industrias Metalurgicas Pescarmona Sociedad Anonima, an Argentine Independent Power Producing firm, and though we had an agenda for the cabinet meeting, the minds of many centered on IMPSA.
.…At the time, media was saying that four days after the government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo assumed power, and two days after his appointment as justice secretary, Hernando Perez issued a DOJ ruling that approved the contract and gave IMPSA what it wanted.
In the cabinet meeting I referred to earlier, Secretary Nani Perez whispered to me “Alam mo, tinawagan ako niyan sa hating gabi (referring to President Gloria seated on my left), at inutusan niya ako na aprobahan ko yang IMPSA”. I sat immobile, then looked at him as if for confirmation. He gazed back and nodded his head.
…So soon yet so sad. I left Malacanang brooding. From that time on. I began to nurse some reservation about President Goria Macapagal Arroyo.
On the offer to have Arroyo killed:
…One day I got a visit from a man who used to see me off and on during campaigns in the past. No announcements, no previous calls; he just came. I did not know him too well. But he was a tough guy who had served the previous governments as an undercover, the essence and details of which I did not fully know.
But he came with a proposal, he said, important because it could change the nation. That got my curiosity. So I asked him in and we sat in the living room.
Then he uncovered an eerie proposition. He said he would take care of everything, but was determined to execute a plan that would eliminate President Gloria from the scene. In other words, kill her. If this were done, the vice president would take over. That could really change the nation. I sat immobile for a few seconds, not sure that I was hearing right. Seeing my hesitancy, he repeated the proposal. This time the message became starkly clear. He proceeded to elaborate but I cut him off. “Pare,” I said, “puede ba, huag mo na ituloy. Naintindihan kita, pero di ko kaya yan. Wala sa radar screen ko, pare. Sorry, di ko matanggap.” The tough guy relented. Perhaps he thought my having been fired from the DFA was reason enough, whatever, but he backed off. Since then his visits became more infrequent…and the last I heard of him was during the canvassing of the 2004 elections.
On Arroyo’s intention to drop the Sabah claim (Guingona was still foreign secretary):
Before leaving, I had a talk with President Gloria. We spoke about the looming case before the International Court of Justice concerning the claim of Malaysia versus Indonesia covering two islands off Sabah. I informed her that we should perhaps have to file an action for intervention in the international tribunal in order to ensure our rights in the main case with Malaysia over Sabah itself. She remained pensive for some moments. Then she said, “You know, Tito, we may have to forego our claim to Sabah at some point in time.” It was said matter of factly, not as a serious proposal, and I just responded that it seemed a controversial issue which could divide the nation. She did not press.
To me, however, it was an eye opener. When a nation stakes a claim, as was done by us in the 60s through President Gloria’s father, Diosdado Macapagal, no less, then that nation should stick to the claim because it is a right that is legal and valid…
On how Arroyo disregarded his suggestions to clean up the Department of Foreign Affairs in particular and government in general:
I therefore stated specific cases, telling her that I had no personal motive whatsoever except to convey the same in confidence to her so that she could take whatever measures she deemed necessary. I then cited among others the case of a contractor who had a penchant for winning bids that supposedly needed repairs when in truth there was really no need for such repairs. I also cited the case of high official who owned a travel agency, whose wife pressured the personnel of the Department to secure tickets for foreign travel from their agency.
… My frank revelations to the President did not alter anything. As a matter of fact, she did the opposite. She promoted the official responsible for irregularities in the DFA, while the private contractor who had a penchant for unduly getting contracts in that office was never called to account. He easily won another questionable contract to do the Diosdado Macapagal Road in Pasay near the Senate, and as far as I know has never been prosecuted for the same to this day.