By Paul Atienza
The Daily Tribune
The Daily Tribune
The ZTE-NBN deal scandal rocked the Arroyo administration and the former President and her husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, have been pilloried for it.
Not so in the case of the current presidential sister, husband and presidential cronies, who are quickly absolved and the issue is never to be probed.
In what could be described as a presidential kin’s scandal in similar NBN-ZTE tones, another scandal involving an alleged extortion try by presidential sister Ballsy Cruz, husband Eldon Cruz and a group identified with the husband-wife team, said to be composed of friends and allies of President Aquino.
The group was said to be in a bid to get a railway contract with railway contractor in the Czech Republic, Inekon, offering to facilitate this in the Philippines for a couple of million dollars on the side.
Malacañang quickly said that it will not dignify reports that a group of presidential sister Ballsy Aquino-Cruz and husband Eldon Cruz is allegedly extorting money from a company supposedly in exchange for government contracts.
Inekon Trams manufactures trams and railways, and is located in the Czech Republic. The company has supplied new trams to several cities in the Czech Republic and the United States. It has also been successful in getting contracts in Asia, according to its website.
Deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte quickly trashed the allegations, and just as quickly absolved the presidential sister and brother in law, as well as their group.
Valte claimed that the story was made up, saying that the details were obscure and “murky.”
A radio report earlier quoted an unidentified source saying that Czech company Inekon refused to give an “advance” to the group of Aquino-Cruz in exchange for a supply contract for Metro Rail Transit coaches.
The Aquino-Cruz group is reportedly made up of Pete Prado, a former top official of the Department of Transportation Communications (DoTC) during the term of president Corazon Aquino, and Steve Psinakis, a son-in-law of the late Eugenio Lopez Sr.
The Aquino-Cruz group is reportedly made up of Pete Prado, a former top official of the Department of Transportation Communications (DoTC) during the term of president Corazon Aquino, and Steve Psinakis, a son-in-law of the late Eugenio Lopez Sr.
Ballsy, her husband Eldon, along with the named group members were said to have traveled to the Czech Republic to meet with the officers of the principal bidders for the MRT-3.
The train company, Inekon was visited by the Eldon Cruz group allegedly for the purpose of securing the contract to represent Inekon in the DoTC in the bidding of the MRT-3 in Manila through the facilitation of Steve Psinakis.
Psinakis is married to Precy Lopez, a daughter of Eugenio Sr.
Psinakis has been a Senior Consultant of First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPHC) since 1996.
He served as Senior Adviser of Benpres Holdings Corporation. He served as President of First Private Power Corporation and Bauang Private Power Corporation from 1993 to 1996. He was engaged in part-time consultancy work on Management and Engineering from 1973 to April 1986. He also served as a Director of Manila North Tollways Corp. He also served as a Director of Benpres Holdings Corp. since 1999. He served as Director of FPHC from 1999 to January 2006.
It was alleged that between US$2 million to US$20 million had been asked by the group as advance “facilitation fees” to insure the award of the new MRT-3 to Inekon company.
Allegedly, the government of the Czech Republic would be expected to release a report of the alleged activities of the group who visited the country.
Valte said the allegations began in a “blind item” which the Malacañang media monitoring staff had already clipped.
“You know that it started as a blind item. We’ve seen it also in our monitoring. It is obvious. One, everybody knows that the presidential sisters are very far removed from the affairs of government,” Valte said.
In a bid to kill the issue, Valte even described the allegations as shadowy which does not need any official attention of President Aquino.
“The story was too murky, and obviously is a conjecture or fictionalized,” Valte said.
Valte said that Aquino was already aware of the Czech-train allegations.
“Yes. The President knows of it. The President did not give any importance to it. He knew there’s no truth to it,” Valte said.
Valte said the allegations against his sister and brother in law would not grab a single minute from the attention of the President.
“At this point, it does not even merit a response given the obscurity of the details that are supposedly part of a story,” Valte said.
Czech Republic ambassador to Manila Josef Rychtar was claimed to have spoken personally to Cathy P. Gonzales, undersecretary and head of the DoTC-MRT Public Bidding for MRT 3.
Meanwhile, farmworker-based Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikulturayesterday called for full transparency including terms and conditions on all private-public partnership (PPP)-led projects amounting to P76.5B as soon as possible for scrutiny.
The group said the people have the highest stakes on each of these featured projects by the government because at the end, if these projects fail to boost development or will result on a compromising position on the government’s part, it’s the public that will pay for its blunder.
UMA cited the disadvantages and the highly unfair transaction between the MWSS and its two concessionaires the Maynilad and Manila Waters and lack of transparency including the scrutiny of its conditions and proposal to pass on its obligations to its customers a whopping P15.3B combined income tax payment to the government from 2008 to 2012 according to consumer advocate Water for the People Network.
“The Aquino government must learn from this obvious and clear abuse of authority from private companies like the Maynilad and the Ayala-led Manila Waters in which the government deliberately overlook because of under the table deals. If these six pet PPP-led projects of the Aquino administration are left unchecked, it would be again another problem for all the tax payers” said Lito Bais, the group’s chairman.
The UMA leader also said that the proposal of Sen. Francis Escudero to create an Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC)-like body that will review water rates by its providers is just like legitimizing its large scale profiteering and one sided proposals by the government itself.
Even the ERC, Bais said, failed to go after Meralco on its P9.1B obligation to its customers because of double charging.
“The Aquino government should ensure that these projects are being directly facilitated, control and under the closed scrutiny of the national government,” said Bais.
“Also it should ensure that all the transactions to these PPP projects once on the roll should be available anytime to interested individuals and groups who wishes to inquire information of the said project,” he added.
“But ultimately only through genuine land reform and national industrialization will pave the way for self-sufficient and independent economy instead of asking new loans and foreign aids that carries out disadvantageous conditions to the government,” said the peasant leader. Charlie V. Manalo
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RELATED STORY:
Czech Republic representative ready to spill beans against Ballsy
Source: DZRH
The representative of Czech Republic to the Philippines is ready to spit everything out regarding the extortion accusations against Presidential sister Ballsy Aquino-Cruz and Presidential brother-in-law Eldon Cruz to a huge Czech company.
Based on the source who wished not to be named, Ambassador Josef Rychtar arranged the meeting between the officials of the Inekon Company and former Department of Transportation and Communications Secretary during the late President Corazon Aquino’s term, Pete Prado, Cruz and Steve Psinakis who is connected to the Lopezes, owner of ABS-CBN [...]
Read the full story >> Czech Republic representative ready to spill beans against Ballsy
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