LACSON: ARROYO BROTHERS BUNGLED 'ANOTHER RESCUE JOB'

Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson on Tuesday rebuffed on several fronts the claim of Negros Rep. Ignacio Arroyo Jr. that the helicopters supposedly sold forcibly to the Philippine National Police were not owned but "leased" by LTA Inc., the Arroyos' family-owned company.

Like the San Francisco, California properties and the Jose Pidal accounts, Iggy Arroyo has developed the habit of rescuing big brother Mike but without much success.

Citing records from the criminal complaints filed by Jose Miguel Arroyo against Archibald Po with the Pasay City prosecutor's office, Lacson noted details on the so-called lease documents Arroyo presented contained several contradictions.

"They should do better than insult the Filipino people's intelligence again," he said.

Earlier, Lacson initiated a Senate inquiry into the P104.9-million mess where choppers supposedly used by the Arroyos were sold as brand-new to the PNP in 2009.

He noted the first discrepancy involved the date of the notarization of the lease agreement - March 16, 2004 - and the residence certificate of Lionair corporate secretary Renato Sia, on April 2, 2004.

It was impossible for Sia to sign the agreement with his residence certificate number not available at the time of the signing of the document.

Lacson also questioned why only the last page of the so-called lease agreement bore Sia's signature, when standard procedure requires that all the pages be signed by all parties concerned including the witnesses. The so-called lease agreement does not bear the signatures of witnesses.

But he said the third and most telling discrepancy was that the second and third batches of helicopters arrived only on March 17 and 24 - after the "agreement" was supposedly signed March 16.

"So the choppers that were supposed to have been leased had not even entered the picture," he said.