Press Release
March 25, 2014

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT OF AMBUSH INTERVIEW
OF SEN. SERGE OSMEÑA - 25 March 2014

Serge:... baka 'yung Fraport at Piatco pwede pang manalo dito uli. Inamin naman nila na hindi sila nag-exercise ng due diligence. Hinintay lang nila na mag-submit (ang mga bidders). Teka muna, kung ako ang magsa-submit, hindi ko sasabihin ang baho ko. Sabihin niyo sakin kung sino ang gagawa ng ganun?

The (DOTC) has to come up with the capability of investigating, of doing background checks.

This Mactan project alone will cost the winning bidder P32 billion. That's a lot he's gonna pay - upfront rental of P14 billion, then he's going to pay P17 billion to build the terminal. And we'll be stuck with them for 25 years! Huwag mo naman ibigay samin 'yung mga kalokohang ganyan, makakalusot na naman 'yung mga Fraport at Piatco na iyan.

Inamin nila they did not do their due diligence. Hinintay lang nila for the firms to submit their financial reports. But believe me, nobody tells the truth in their financial reports. Dinodoktor iyan.

Q: I-a-award daw nila before the end of the month?

Serge: That's okay. But they better make the right award. If they make the wrong award, I am going to take them to court. Hindi ako nag-ba-bluff. Kapag sinabi ko, gagawin ko.

Q: Baka magalit sa inyo ang mga Cebuano?

Serge: Ah hindi. I will explain to them.

Q: 'Yung sinasabi na dinedelay ninyo 'yung process samantalang may winning bidder na? Na naging transparent naman 'yung bidding at magiging negative ang dating nito sa mga prospective investors?

Serge: Hindi naman nila ginawa ang dapat nilang gawin eh. They did not exercise their due diligence. Ako, nag-google lang ako for 4-5 hours, nakita ko na agad ang lahat ng baho eh. Tinanong ko sila, ginawa ba ninyo ito? 'Hindi po.' Ano ba 'yan! Napakadali naman niyan. Kasi hindi ninyo pera ano? If it came out from their real pockets, believe me, they will Google it. Kitang kita naman eh. Makikita ninyo ang mga kalokohan nila eh.

Q: Is GMR financially capable?

Serge: There are many ways of defining what is financially capable. If you are going to accept among many bidders, they're going to be stricter. Pero kung nag-iisa ka lang o kaya dalawa lang, they cannot be so strict. Kunwari, may magbi-bid, 'yung isa Lucio Tan, 'yung isa Aboitiz, 'yung isa Ayala, dun sa 3 na 'yan makita kong may konting gulo si Lucio Tan, sabihin ko 'I-disqualify mo muna ito habang may problema 'yan.' It's all a matter of relativity. Now, GMR is big but they are over-borrowed. So medyo tabingi sila dun. It's not so much whether they have the money, they have and they can borrow some more, but it's not so much that. It's because they have so many naughty habits eh. The Comptroller and the Auditor General of India came out with a report, of course dine-deny nila. Pero sino ba naman ang hindi magde-deny? Kasuhan mo nga ako, ide-deny ko eh. Maski 'yung mga kasama ko dito sa Senado never dealt with Janet Napoles. Until you prove it, ide-deny nila 'yan.

Q: Tuloy po ba ang awarding?

Serge: It's not whether they award it or not, it's whether they make the proper award. Ang concern ko talaga, is hindi po sila nag-exercise ng due diligence, naghintay lang sila na mag-submit 'yung mga bidders sa kanila. Walang bidder na magsasabi ng katotohanan. Siyempre pagagandahin nila 'yung biodata nila. Hindi nila sasabihin na, 'you know I was accused of...' No, of course not. Puro lang 'yan accusations but those are not true. Puro that's not true. Alam mo naman dito sa ating bansa, everything is not true unless proven guilty.

So, I asked them to redo their internal rules of bidding so that you are forced to undergo due diligence. Ako, nag-due diligence ako, mga 4-5 hours, nag-Google ako, nakita ko lahat ng baho. Ginawa ba ninyo ito? 'Hindi po.' Aysus maria! This is a P32 billion project . The proponent will have to pay P14 billion upfront and another P17 billion to build the terminal. Don't you know that at least, we have to pay that through user fees, the travelers using Mactan airport for the next 25 years will be paying for the airport, they're not going to do this out of the goodness of their heart.

Q: There was negligence on the part of the DOTC?

Serge: Oh yes, definitely. Definitely. They did not undertake due diligence that was required of them and they admitted it several times during the 2 hearings.

Q: Anong penalty ng DOTC kung ituloy nila ang awarding?

Serge: Wala pa.

Q: Before the end of the month daw, kaya ba 'yun sir?

Serge: Wala naman silang sinasabi sakin eh, hindi naman nila sinasabi. Ang sinasabi nila, hindi pa daw tapos, hindi pa tapos, hindi pa tapos...

Q: Gusto niyo po ba magkaroon ng re-bidding?

Serge: No. I want them to do a validation of whoever they award the bid to, i-justify mo.

Q: Dapat bang tanggalin na sa choices 'yung GMR-Megawide?

Serge: No, no. I'm not saying that. All I am saying is that, there's a process, you are the ones who developed the process, you are the ones that wrote the rules, just give us a reason why you made a decision, whoever you awarded it to, you must have good reasons why you made that award.

Q: Hindi kayo satisfied sa explanation ng GMR kanina?

Serge: Hindi naman kasalanan ito ng GMR. GMR has no fault in here. I don't expect them to say anything, except that they will look pretty. Every bidder does that, believe me. DOTC who did not undertake or exercise the due diligence that we should require for projects such as this.

Q: Kung sakaling ma-award 'yung project at hindi pa na-resolve ang issue, what will the committee do?

Serge: I will have to wait for the committee to come together for a meeting and decide that. I cannot decide for the committee.

Q: Will there be another committee?

Serge: There might be, but I cannot be sure. That will all depend on the submissions that we asked for.

There's also this other issue that I brought up about this airport in Puerto Princesa. 'Yung 1 bidder dun, nasa bankruptcy court, it's under rehabilitation. Tatanggapin ba natin 'yan? Baka next year wala na 'yan, baka nag-belly up na 'yan.

OTHER TOPICS

On the BIR proposal to lift the Bank Secrecy law

Serge: I have always been in favor of lifting it but I could never pass it here. In the1st amendment to the original AMLA in 2003, that was 1 of the predicate crimes and 1 of the conditions to lift the bank secrecy law.

Q: Hindi ba nakaka-discourage sa mga bank depositors?

Serge: Hindi. There are certain limits to bank secrecy laws all over the world. There's a bank secrecy law in the United States, but believe me, the IRS of the USA can open your bank account without you knowing it. They have to go to a judge, and the judge will ask you, 'what's your reason for opening the bank account of Sergio?' 'Because he's got a Ferrari and his income is only $2,000 a month, so how can he own it?' Before I know it, may kumakatok na sa pintuan ko and sinasabihan ako, 'Mr. Osmeña, can we invite you to a meeting, we would just like to know, if you only make $24,000 a year, how did you afford a $120,000 Ferrari?' Sasabihin ko, "My mother gave it to me.' 'Ah, okay.'

Q: So it can really help in running after tax evaders?

Serge: Yes. Dito you cannot do that because of the bank secrecy law.

Q: Do you have a pending bill or part lang nung Anti-Terrorism bill?

Serge: They have to pass it in the House first. Kasi kung idadaan nila sa Senado, ipapasa namin dito pagkatapos wala namang mangyayari sa House, that will be a waste of time lang. You know, there are only 24 senators, there are 288 congressmen, they are more than 10 times bigger than we are. They have more time to pass bills. We are so limited here that I am always juggling 7-10 bills any one time, and I am getting a headache.

Q: You will initiate it kapag naipasa na ng House? Right now, you will just wait first? Wala pang naka-pending? Baka daw gamitin to harass...

Serge: Yes (wait for the House).

Remember during the Corona trial, there was an outcry to remove the bank secrecy law? I had two whole boxes on bank secrecy, including the hearings we conducted. Pero alam kong walang mangyayari, at wala ngang nangyari.

Q: Why is there to lift it when there are exemptions?

Serge: Because you cannot catch. So if you say that, 'I did not pay my tax because I am earning so much...'

You see, in our country when you say I am violating the law, you have to prove it. When you say I am evading taxes, you have to prove it. In America, it's the other way around. When they say you're evading taxes, you have to prove that I earned it and how did I earn it. Mas madali dun. Dun nga kapag nakita nila, 'Ooops, may Ferrari si Mr. Osmeña, $120,000 iyan. Boss san mo nakuha pambili niyan?' Dito iba. May Ferrari si Osmeña. You prove that I stole it. You prove that I did not pay my taxes. Eh di hirap na hirap sila kasi they could not even open my bank accounts.

Q: Dapat may safeguards para hindi abusuhin?

Serge: Just look around the world. There are bank secrecy, and the bank secrecy says you cannot divulge the information on my bank account to Juan dela Cruz or Tom, Dick and Harry. But the IRS, with good reason, can go to a judge and the judge will issue...

Q: May AMLAC naman?

Serge: AMLAC? They took away the power to lift the bank secrecy. Bank secrecy is sacrosanct in this country. And this is strongest bank secrecy act in the whole world. 1954-55 pa 'yan.

On the new 'pork' scam

Q: Nakaabot na po sa Malacañang, may agency involved under the Office of the President involving P515 million? Nag-order na si PNOY na i-investigate, okay na po ba 'yun or should there be congressional inquiry?

Serge: The only answer to that is, it depends on the individual congressman or senator because it only takes 1 congressman or senator to file a resolution calling for an investigation.

Q: Alarming na po ba 'yun? Na 1 agency under the OP na ang involved?

Serge: Hindi. Because all those agencies are under the Office of the President. All departments are under the Office of the President. All those corporations that you are talking about, whether it's Nabcor or others, they're all under the Office of the President. There are 600 corporations under the Office of the President!

Q: Yung scam happened in 2012, during the Aquino administration.... What does it say?

Serge: Let's see. What does it say? It says that there is corruption regardless of how honest PNOY is. It's a matter of management. If you don't put the proper management controls in place, these things will always happen.

Even in ordinary corporation, if you don't have the right auditing procedures, control procedures, you will get scammed. Whether you own BPI or the PLDT, mangyayari din 'yan...

Q: Inutusang mag-investigate si Secretaries Ochoa, Abad and Almendras...

Serge: They will investigate? Why will they be the ones to investigate that? Why don't they call the NBI? They should not be the ones...they're not investigators...

Q: Para daw malaman saan napunta 'yung pera?

Serge: You know, that bothers me because they're not investigators, they're not trained investigators. There's a way to investigate these things. Kami nga dito sa Senado, hirap na hirap nga kami dito because we're not trained investigators. You give it to the NBI, they can do these in 1 week, it would take us 1-2 months to do, if at all.

Q: Mas problematic ba ito, kasi may ginamit na pera for DAP, hindi lang ginamit na conduit yung NHFMC, P25 million din to fund the DAP in 2012?

Serge: I am not clear on what DAP is supposed to do. You know, DAP for me was only a holding account for the DBM. I don't know if I could explain this properly... imbes na may sobra sa account na A,B,C,D,E,F,G... ipunin mo na lang in 1 account so it's easy to take control and disburse. Because the way they do it under the old system, okay, may sobra sa account ng corporation A, for example, you have to take it out of there and apply the new project under that. Ang ginawa nila, gather all the extra funds, put it under 1 account, called DAP, and then disburse it from there. Sinabi na illegal daw 'yun. So we have to start from scratch.

Maybe we should pass a law to make it clear that there can be a holding account for DAP because it doesn't mean you lose the money. It makes it easier to keep control and watch over 1 account rather than 650 accounts.

Q: Sir, yung pagbuo kina Secretaries Ochoa, Abad and Almendras?

Serge: I don't like that idea. And I am suspicious of it. Why would he ask Peter to investigate Paul? Get an outsider to investigate.

Q: Parang PR lang, palabas lang? Baka sila pa nga ang nag-approve?

Serge: They might just cover-up their own. Abad... supposed Abad was the one who released the money?

Q: Awful 'yung decision?

Serge: Awful management. Just awful. Another proof....

On Tiamzons arrest

Q: Makakaapekto daw ang pag-arrest sa kanila sa peace?

Serge: They're in the Order of Battle. And Joma Sison knows that. And even Joma Sison, when he comes home here, he will be arrested because he is also under the Order of Battle. Now, if they had an agreement that everything stops pending the peace talks, okay I would say it's a violation. Pero tuloy naman ang mga attacks nila sa local. In other words, for them, there was no truce. And if there's no truce, eh di tuloy yung Order of Battle. And those who are included in the Order of Battle are subject to arrest. In other words, you can shoot me, but I cannot arrest you? Ah, medyo one side iyon di ba?

Q: Kung suspended yung peace talks, walang epekto ang JASIG, hindi sila covered ng safety pass?

Serge: Yes. Ganito iyan in plain English. Never mind JASIG, never mind peace talk.

You and I are shooting at each other. You want to talk peace, remember at the same time that I am not just shooting at you but I also have an arrest warrant against you, so I have the right to exercise my police powers under the Constitution to defend the Republic of the Philippines. That is the essence of the source of all police powers of the government.

So, I arrest you now and you say, teka muna, may peace talks tayo, pero binaril mo 'yung bata ko kagabi, binaril mo 'yung kasama ko 2 weeks ago, and you're saying that I cannot arrest you? What am I supposed to do? Smile and just pray for those you have killed? Hindi naman.

Q: Tama lang ang kamay na bakal sa kasong ito?

Serge: Unfortunately, yes. Of course, I expected them to argue that. And believe me, I have a great deal of personal respect for people who fight for a cause. I mean, ang hirap ng ginawa ng mga Tiamzons. I am not idolizing them, but, 'Wow! For somebody to commit themselves to such a hard life because he thinks, he believes in what he is doing, improving the plight of the poor, freeing the masses from oppression, economic and political oppression, I have to hand it to them.

Q: Aren't they doing it the wrong way sir?

Serge: No. Unfortunately, our system of laws does not permit that, does not permit shooting. Many of them are now above ground, they're now members of Congress, 'yung mga kasamahan nila. Okay 'yun, hindi naman namin sila inaaresto because they are not shooting. But if you are part of an armed group that has openly defied our laws and continues to launch attacks, huwag naman sabihin na exempted ka from arrest.

Q: Sino 'yung mga members na ng Congress?

Serge: Marami diyan. 'Yung Bayan...

Q: Hindi nila sinabing NPA sila. They're militant groups...

Serge: Okay...

On Bangsamoro agreement

Q: Signing na sa Thursday. Iyan na ba ang magandang legacy ni PNOY?

Serge: I do not know if that will work... and I haven't read it. They have not sent me a copy. You know, that's the funny thing. That's what I call management. Noon, lahat ng past presidents may PLLO active, that's the Presidential Legislative Liaison Officer. This Noynoy's time, it's zero. So I don't know who to ask.

Q: Hindi nag-e-exist 'yung PLLO?

Serge: It exists in the Palace, it doesn't exist here in the Senate.

Q: Kanya-kanya kayong research?

Serge: Dati may may mga legislative officer na pwedeng, 'Boss pahinging kopya ng Bangsamoro agreement.' Now, I do not know whom to ask. Imbes naman I have to call the Executive Secretary for every small thing like that.... So they have made it hard, instead of easier. Coordination is very important because it makes things easier for us.

I have not read it. I have been waiting for an official copy.

Q: Tama ba 'yun, pirmahan na sa Thursday tapos may mga senators pa na walang kopya?

Serge: Hindi tama yun. Pero anong magagawa ko? Q: Hindi ba hihimayin niyo naman 'yun kapag ginawa nyo ang Bangsamoro basic law?

Serge: Yes. It has to pass through us...

Q: You're not hopeful na magtatapos na 'yung armed conflict sa Mindanao?

Serge: No. I am really afraid of the reaction among the Christians in the Bangsamoro area. Siyempre sasabihin nila, uupakan kami dito. Ganun naman dun eh. That's why this war has been going on for a long time, because of the clash of cultures. And now sasabihin ng Moro, ngayon ako ang hari dito, ikaw eto ang ginawa mo sakin 2 years ago, sige... so, those Christians who have been brought there and settled there are now going to undergo the danger of being uprooted, they don't like that at all...

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