It's up to Truth Commission to probe Soliman - Palace

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang dared critics yesterday to file complaints with the Truth Commission against administration officials who were part of the Arroyo government.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said it would be up to the panel to determine whether the complaints would be given credence.

He was quick to defend Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman, who held the same position when Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was president, on allegations that Soliman profited from a government bond flotation in 2001.

Sen. Edgardo Angara said the Truth Commission should be fair in looking into various anomalies in the past nine years.

Angara specifically cited Soliman’s alleged involvement in the Caucus of Non-Government Organization Networks (Code NGO), which supposedly earned a P1.4-billion commission from the P10-billion Poverty Eradication and Alleviation Certificate (PEACe) bonds issued by the government in 2001. Soliman is former head of the NGO group.

“Time and again, it has been stressed by Secretary Soliman that she was never involved in the Code NGO bonds. That fact has been presented in several congressional hearings in the past and nothing has come out of that because precisely and primarily, Dinky Soliman was never involved in the formulation of the Code-NGO bonds,” Lacierda said.

“If, again, any citizen believes that there was some anomaly involved, he is free to file a complaint. But, again, let me state that several hearings have already been conducted in the past and Secretary Dinky Soliman has always stated and the truth has borne her out that she was never involved in the Code-NGO bonds,” he added.

Lacierda said the situations of Soliman and Arroyo were different.

“You’ve got the (former) president being investigated and obviously these are people that were her allies. Now that we have a Truth Commission that would be able to sift through all the facts – witnesses will be presented, documents will come out – let’s see the truth. What was really the involvement not only of President Arroyo but all the other officials from the past government?” Lacierda said.

He stressed that the cases involving Soliman and Arroyo were separate and distinct from one another.

Lacierda said Soliman’s case had already been investigated and “she was out of power” when the investigations were made and it had been concluded that she was not involved.

“There have always been insinuations that she profited from that but where are the documents? Where are the witnesses who will prove that? They have no witnesses, they have no documents to prove that because precisely, Dinky Soliman was never involved in the first place,” Lacierda said.

Lacierda said the Palace would not be the one to decide whether this should be taken up again or not.

“It’s up to the Truth Commission. Again, if there’s anyone who, based on their rules of procedures, if anyone would like to raise a concern against certain Cabinet officials during the past nine years, let them do so. But I’m also stating the fact that Dinky Soliman was never involved in the Code-NGO bonds because she never participated from the very start,” he said.

Lacierda said the same would be the case for other Cabinet officials linked to certain anomalies – let the evidence and witnesses be forwarded to prove whether they were indeed involved.

Aurea Calica, Philippine Star