Press Release
February 21, 2011

TRANSCRIPT OF SEN. DRILON'S AMBUSH INTERVIEW
Session hall

DRILON: Prisoner swap means, if Philippines enters into a prisoner swap agreement with country A, it only means that if you are a citizen of country A and you are convicted in the Philippines, you can serve your sentence in the jail of country A. Now absent a treaty, you could not compel...let's say country A, if u reserve it, if we have a Filipino citizen in country A who committed a crime there, absent any agreement, you could not require country A to bring to the Philippines our Filipino citizen to serve the sentence here.

(chiz proposal...) There's nothing wrong with that.... I would not know kung saan yung pinakamarami. If we can do it why not? If we can do a prisoner swap agreement with other countries, nothing wrong with that.

(what would be the drawback) Wala naman ako nakikita...

Q: Sir may suggestion ba kayo sa possible na kapalit ni CoA chair Villar?

DRILON: Wala akong suggestion. Whoever it is, it must be somebody with a high credibility because like Ceasar's wife, the CoA chairman shall be beyond suspicion. CoA is an institution of democracy which is critical for our people to have continued faith in our democratic system that there is a watchdog. Therefore whoever heads it must be beyond suspicion.

Q: Sir yung observations na China might likely ask for concessions?

DRILON: These are speculations and whatever concession they ask for would be decided on the basis on what is the best interest of the Philippines.

Q: Do you think there's going to be any concession?

DRILON: I do not know. You're speculating. In the course of the bilateral relation, there will be issues and it's inevitable that there will be issues between China and the Philippines. Every case will be decided I would like to think on the basis of the national interest of the Philippines. In the same manner that China will decide those bilateral issues on the basis of its own national interest.

Q: On various banks allowing millions in deposits and withdrawals from Ligot et al.

DRILON: They allowed millions of dollars to pass through that account or to be deposited to the account when in fact the depositor had no known... is not a businessman or having no known sources (of income). So these financial institutions must be called to task for becoming instruments of corruption. Can you imagine that?

Q: Eh paano kung i-invoke nila ang bank secrecy in this instance?

DRILON: Aba e AMLA ito e. Hindi naman bank secrecy ito e.

Q: Sir kahapon sabi nyo yung mga bangko have no KYC.

DRILON: No KYC, Know Your Customer. That's a cardinal rule.

Q: Pwede ba yun sir pag mag open ka ng account, saan galling yung pera mo?

DRILON: Hindi. Kung mag open ka ng account tanungin ka kung ano ba ang sources mo, sino ka ba. For example, kung drug dealer ka dapat hindi ka payagang magbukas ng account dahil pwede mong gamitin yon.

Q: Pwede bang magkaroon ng separate investigation dito?

DRILON: Ayoko na magkaroon ng imbestigasyon babanatan nyo na naman kami.

Q: On Ligot's other accounts.

DRILON: Binigay ko na, ni-release ko na e yung mga numbers doon. What I have seen is that there are pending fraud cases as early as 2005, which apparently are not moving at all.

Q: Against Ligot?

DRILON: Against Ligot, against Edgardo Yambao. Biro mo naman eh milyon-milyong dolyar pumasok sa kanyang account. And the SALn of Jacinto Ligot and his income tax return does not justify such huge amounts being deposited in his accounts.

Q: Imposibleng mag isa lang siya?

DRILON: Imposibleng sa kanya lahat yon. Sino ang nasa likod niya? Who is behind Ligot considering the sums involved went in and out of his account.

Q: Baka si Reyes?

DRILON: You know you can only speculate.

Q: Somebody higher?

DRILON: I do not know. Somebody has access to these kinds of sources. So brazen. Quarter of a billion in cash. How do you imagine that? In for years. Ang sweldo niya P30,000 a month.

Q: Nung panahon ni GMA sinasabi yung DILG at DND parang conversion?

DRILON: Gaano naman kalaki na conversion ang P740 million. Makikita mo sa mga deposito in one instance magdedeposito ng $2 million eh, eh di P100 million in one transaction.

Q: Sir possible na tinanggap niya yung P160 million na pabaon.

DRILON: I do not know. Basta ako ay titingin pa at hahanap pa ng mga linkage.

Q: Small fish lang pala tong si Garcia?

DRILON: Oo. Si Garcia P303 million plus P128 million, kasama na ang fixed assets doon, that's only about P430 milion. Aba eto sa cash pa lang ay P740 million na, in pesos and in dollars. Mabigat. Hindi pa kasama yung mga bahay niya.

Q: Sir baka front din yung mga bahay?

DRILON: Kaya nga. The question is was he fronting for somebody. I could not believe that all these money was for his account. Somebody...

Q: Pero yung possibility galing lang ito sa AFP funds?

DRILON: It cannot be called galing sa AFP funds because the amounts are substantial and he was only there as comptroller for 2 years.

Q: Pero si Rabusa barely 2 years P1 billion ang na convert niya eh.

DRILON: Hindi naman mag isang tao lang yan e.

Q: Is there a way to unmask this?

DRILON: Mahirap. Maghananap tayo ng mga senyales. We'll see whether there are.

Q: Nung source kasi every time naman na...

DRILON: Yes I agree. First as I said, before you open an account, dapat Know Your Customer is the cardinal rule. And then assume na hindi mo alam in the course of the transactions, you see huge amounts of money going and passing through that account, you know these are suspicious transactions which should have raised their tentacles.

Q: Sir yung mga bangko gusto lang nila maraming pera.

DRILON: Precisely. That's what I'm leading to. Simply because of the greed of these banks.

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