Cayetano to quit if Pidal, GMA signs waiver

Sige na pidal, sign the waiver na and "do a lacson".

From the Tribune:

Senior Deputy Minority leader Alan Peter Cayetano (Taguig-Pateros) yesterday pledged to resign as congress-man, on condition that Presi-dent Arroyo, her spouse, Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, her children, especially Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo and his uncle, Rep. Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo sign a waiver for several banks to have their reported “secret accounts” opened and scrutinized publicly.

Once the waiver is signed and a look into these accounts would yield negative results, then Cayetano said he would be more than willing to resign.

Cayetano made this commitment in answer to the 13 counts of libel filed against him by the First Gentleman before the Quezon City prosecutor’s office Thursday. Mr. Arroyo seeks P32 million in damages.

More:

Cayetano also took exception to the certification issued by HypoVereinsbank vice president Peter Reisner and general secretariat head Evi Vollman that denied the bank account numbered 87-570-23030-32100-62771571 allegedly being maintained by the First Family saying he only mentioned 22 digits and not 23 which was the subject of Mr. Arroyo’s verification.

“First of all, there was no malice, but if he (Mr. Arroyo) says he was mistaken in the numbers, he was really mistaken since the certificate carried 23 digits. What I read out were 22 digits only.

‘The waiver that I ask for involves four people. They are Mrs. Arroyo, the first Gentleman, Mikey Arroyo and Iggy Arroyo,” Cayetano maintained.

Escudero who has been supportive of Cayetano since the issue on German bank account was brought up said Cayetano’s demand for truth to be revealed was never libelous.

“I don’t think it’s libelous. In any event, we in the minority are behind him and support him,” he said while referring to the 13 libel cases facing by the Taguig-Pateros congressman.

UPDATE: I think this is what Helga was referring to yesterday. From Lito Banayo:

By their mouths are fish caught.

A few days back, I listened to DZMM’s Anthony Taverna interview the bard of Marilao, Atty. Jesus Santos, the spokesperson of Atty. Jose Miguel T. Arroyo, describe in bulaklaking Tagalog, how they were treated in Munchen, capital das Bayern im Deutschland, by the officers of Hypovereins Bank.

It was a holiday, said Attorney Santos, yet the bank opened its doors to them. They were brought to the boardroom, and after some refreshments, the vice-president gave them a certification that the bank did not have any account in the name of Atty. Jose Miguel T. Arroyo. Nor an account number with 23 digits, one digit more than that which Cayetano alluded to.

And Attorney Santos, likewise a trustee of the government employees’ forced pension system called GSIS, by appointment of her royal majesty La Doña del Primero Caballero, said something else. Bayerische Hypo-und Vereinsbank, with more than 2,000 branches worldwide, serving some four million "private" depositors all over the globe, and with investment assets of more than 110 billion euro, according to Santos, "did not deal in American dollars".

"Kaya talagang malinaw na kasinungalingan ang mga paratang ni Congressman Cayetano", Santos thundered, "kasi ang bangkong ito ay hindi pala tumatanggap ng dolyar, pulos euro lamang". Not even deutschemarks, Herr Santos? Nor francs Suisse, never mind francs Francaise, which the Bavarians probably despise? Or Austrian schillings? What global bank in this day and age deals with einzig euro, nie dollars? Why, Dubya would froth in the mouth and all the charms of Angela Merkel could not possibly appease the insult to the American currency by this hypo whatever bank!

So aghast was Taverna, who exclaimed, "Hesus-maryosep Ka Indo! Maski po yung aming rural bank sa San Antonio, Nueva Ecija e tumatanggap ng dolyar."

But what causes eyebrows to really rise up a few inches was how the second biggest bank in Germany would open its doors wide, and treat such foreign visitor with wide open arms, on a holiday at that, to certify that they did not know him at all. Yes, indeed, for that is what their certification meant: They did not know him.

Try going to HSBC or Citibank, or even the First Gentleman’s favorite Union Bank, and ask them to give you a certification that you did not bank with them. Unless you have a court order, or a letter from higher authorities such as the Central Bank, or the Monetary Board, or Congress, would the bank pay you any heed? E wala ka palang deposito rito, anong pakialam namin sa iyo?

But not apparently these "very important foreigners", Arroyo, con Santos y Makalintal. Were they perhaps accompanied by the Philippine excellency, Delia Domingo Albert? Did she travel from Bonn with a letter from the presiding officer of the Bundestag, or the Federal Reserve, or perhaps, a personal request from the chairman of Fraport im Frankfurt, that airport authority which the Philippine government "swindled" of its investments in a world-class air terminal turned white elephant? Such humongous company can certainly open doors beyond Lutheran Hesse and into Ratzinger’s Bayern. Or maybe the very important foreigners were introduced by some Austrian branch?

I recall that when that other "hated" legislator, Ping Lacson, discovered the secrets of Jose Pidal, the Bank of Philippine Islands upon Perea in Makati certified that they did not have an account in the name of Jose Pidal. Not anymore, they said. As of the date when Joker Arroyo’s blue ribbon committee secretary wrote BPI, no such account existed.

In any case, young Allan Peter Cayetano has been charged before the City Prosecutor’s office of Quezon City, by the same lawyer, a certain Attorney Rondain, who handles the libel cases filed against me in the City of Manila by the same mega-rich client. And just as the then chief of the WPD, Pedro Bulaong, would escort Rondain and his client when my case is heard, the chief of the Central Police District, Nicasio Radovan Jr., dutifully escorted Senor Arroyo y su abogado, de campanilla based on his fees.

Welcome to the club, Allan! Jake Macasaet and I and a dozen others, perhaps more, happily embrace your company. In God’s own time, in the fullness of His grace, we await the dawn of truth and the full light of justice in land so benighted.

UPDATE: GMA to Cayetano: Say Sorry for destroying my family name

PRESIDENT Arroyo yesterday broke her silence on the allegations of Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano (Taguig-Pateros) that her family has a multi-million dollar account in Germany, saying the latter was "shamelessly peddling lies."

"I can no longer allow my family to be pilloried in this manner by a man who I had thought bears the honor and principle of a respected father and senator of the Republic," she said in a press conference with her lawyer Romulo Makalintal.

The President said Cayetano has refused to be "man enough to admit his mistake" even if official bank records have shown that he erred.

She said Hypo-und Vereinsbank in Munich has officially cleared her and her spouse Jose Miguel Arroyo.

Palace reporters were furnished copies of the letters dated Aug. 30 from bank general secretary Evi Hollman and compliance officer Dr. Klaus-Michael Ploss to the Arroyo couple.

Hollmann and Ploss wrote that there were no account numbers 87-570-23030-32100-62771571 and 87-570-23030-32100-6271571 under the name of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

In a separate letter to Mr. Arroyo, the bank officials said there were no account numbers 87-570-23030-32100-62771571 and 87-570-23030-32100-6271571 under the name of Mr. Jose Miguel T. Arroyo.

the bank did not say both bank account numbers did not exist. it says there were no bank account numbers under the name of mike arroyo and GMA.

like i said before, just sign the waiver pidal, and "do a lacson."