Press Conference at PREDA Center
Monday, July 13, 1998

Richard Gordon should be replaced as chairman of the SBMA for due cause. There are many ‘due causes’ why he should be replaced and prosecuted. Here are a few of them as compiled and documented by the PREDA Foundation, Inc.

1. Alleged incompetence and evidence of graft uncovered by the Commission On Audit and declared guilty by the Presidential Commission Against Graft and Corruption (PCAGC).

2. His alleged promotion of Olongapo as a sex tourist destination for military prostitution and his failure to act on evidence of child sexual abuse in Olongapo uncovered by the US investigators.

3. His alleged part in the violation of human and civil rights of NGO child care workers.

4. Allegations and evidence of using Government funded projects for personal or family benefit.

Background

The Preda Foundation, Inc. is an NGO working for the human and civil rights of women, children and youth in Olongapo for 24 years. The work of rescuing sexually exploited children from jails, brothels and from the streets and restoring them to a life of dignity has continually met opposition from the Government of Olongapo City led by the Gordon Family. The civil and human rights of Preda personnel have been violated with impunity for many years.

We are witnesses to the effect of the policies and practices of the Gordon Dynasty which has ruled this city for forty years almost without interruption and have controlled and politicized the SBMA since 1992.

Gordon has been declared guilty of graft by the Presidential Commission Against Graft and Corruption on evidence uncovered by the Commission On Audit showing that millions of pesos of government funds were squandered on useless and questionable purchases and much more were without receipts and unaccounted for. These documents are available from the Commission On Audit and the Preda Center.

Plunder At Subic

The Commission On Audit examination of the SBMA for October 1992 to December 1993 show that millions of pesos are unaccounted for. In the first three months of operation at the SBMA under Gordon, they claimed that they spent a whooping
Php 10,798,214.59 in 1992 and in 1993, Php 5,289,110.72 for vehicle operation.

Assume each vehicle uses an average of Php 2,000.00 a month for the three months, running non-stop for 12 hours a day. To consume that amount of fuel and oil you would need 1,783 vehicles at the SBMA.

In 1993, the consumption billed was half of 1992. Apparently, half of the 1,783 ghost vehicles of the SBMA stopped running or were sold off by 1993. But the SBMA did not have that number of vehicles. So how come there was such billings, according to COA reckoning the receipts submitted as fuel bills must have been fake? 15 million pesos of fake fuel bills? Where did the money go? The millions were supposedly spent on gasoline and motor oil according to the papers presented to the commission by Gordon.

So allegedly, according to the COA report, observers can only speculate that there was massive plundering from the very beginning of the chairmanship of Gordon that was greater than what happened at Clarke .In other words, what was protected at Subic was guarded for a select bunch of plunders. The fact that Gordon claims he and volunteers protected Subic could be a smoke screen perhaps for what really happened.

Only a real investigation in court will reveal the truth. However the COA report comments on missing funds that says many of the purchases were “without appropriate documents and adequate records”.

Other expenditures for 1992 were Php 1.7 million for various supplies, in 1993, they spent Php 9.2 million but not sufficient documentation to justify it and not enough physical supplies in the inventory. So where did it go? Mr. Gordon has a lot of answering to do.

15 million pesos was spent on a private helicopter for Chairman Gordon.

9 million pesos for ground maintenance for 1993-94 although there were, according to Gordon’s own claims, 8,000 volunteers unpaid doing this work. Someone got the money, not the poor of Olongapo.

20 million pesos was budgeted in 1993 for assorted weapons, guns, rifles shotguns, and side arms, enough to equip an small army and that included 10 units of sniper scopes costing Php 125,000. Where are they now?

85 million pesos for new vehicles alone in 1995.

16 million pesos for 2 air-conditioned bullet proof vehicles.

21 million pesos for 30 light “trucks” Mitsubishi L-200 diesel – 12 seater in fact, mini vans.

20 million pesos for 8 Fuso buses.

18 million pesos for 30 Nissan Lancer patrol cars.

9 million pesos for five Nissan Patrol pick-up vehicles.

85 million pesos total for new vehicles alone in 1995.

Driving around the SBMA, few of these can be found. So, where are they ? Only when the 388 vehicles listed as purchased from 1992 to the present are accounted for by external investigators will the truth of the missing vehicles be known. Gordon will not allow this as long as he is the Chairman. Is this what Gordon is hiding, or is the other more damaging evidence of wrongdoing waiting to be found?

Ghost Vehicles? Old Replace New Scam

Are the remains of the 388 vehicles bought from the US Navy in 1993 masquerading as new ones that were either never bought with the 85 million pesos or just disappeared?

Other purchases of used vehicles, including buses from a US bus line were made by the SBMA and dumped useless in the former Navy magazine area where they remain today. Only an external inventory will expose the truth of these allegations.

Leg Irons, Batons, Shackles, Body Armors

The security department ordered 200 pieces of batons for the police at Php 1,500 each. Riot shields at Php 15,000 each. Peerless leg irons (shackles) for prisoners. 1,800 pesos each. Human lock anklets (none available). Six night vision cameras at Php 120,000 each. Body Armors – 10 outfits Php 35,000 each. 10 hand held metal detectors – 15,000 pesos each. Five speed gun Php 60,000 each. Two walk through metal detectors Php 550,000 each. Everything allegedly overpriced.

Unpaid Labor

When the SBMA was using hundreds of unpaid “volunteers” who were barred from employment if they did not first give up to one year free labor, some had to cut the grass of investors with household scissors. The SBMA charged the government 9 million pesos annually for this maintenance work.

Cover Up Of Child Sex Abuse By Gordon?

Allegedly, according to strong documentary evidence found in US Navy archives, Richard Gordon, when mayor of Olongapo from 1982, allowed and encouraged, the growth of the most exploitative and dehumanizing sex industry that catered to the lustful and sexual appetites of the US Navy servicemen. The US Navy in its own undercover operations uncovered what we at Preda, already knew and fought against – the shameful sexual exploitation of children as young as 4 years old.

Evidence of the “Filipino Babies For Sex” scandal, was uncovered and documented by US Navy investigators and given to the local authorities including Mayor Richard Gordon. When he was given the reports and the names of the suspects, he did nothing instead he covered it up and presented himself as a paragon of virtue and a leader of youth.

This alleged failure to act on reported and documented heinous crimes against little children makes him a alleged accessory to the crimes. These documents are available to the media .

Threats And Harassment Against Social Workers

Because of the stand of the Preda Center against these syndicates who abuse children and protect accused child sex abusers, allegedly including relatives and political associates of Mr. Gordon, still before the courts, Preda workers have been threatened, harassed and vilified over the years.

Secret Intelligence Group Of Gordon

Documents show social workers have been put under surveillance by the intelligence unit of the SBMA spying on innocent people.

Building and other Permits routinely denied. Deportations and other charges made without evidence.

Arrest Warrant After TV Interview

On July 9, 1998 the day after Fr. Shay Cullen gave an interview to ABS-CBN, an arrest warrant was issued against Fr. Shay Cullen for Grave Oral Defamation. Who will speak to the media? This is evidence of harassment and the intimidation of the people threatening them if they dare to criticize the ruling dynasty.

Using Government Projects For Personal Benefit

The Gordon family allegedly used their political power and position to arrange with the National Power Corporation and Asian Development Bank to allegedly, personally benefit from the erection of an additional electrical power pylon at Kalaklan, so that dangerous electromagnetic cables would be diverted from Gordon Park, where they have valuable beach, while allegedly permitting the pylons and cables to pass close to the Preda Children’s Home.

Gordon Park Reclamation At Government Cost, Or Is It Public Land?

That same property – Gordon Park, is getting, allegedly for free, a massive tract of reclaimed land from the Olongapo City government headed by Kate Gordon. It ought to be clear that the reclaimed land is government property. This being the result of a Gordon decision to use a government funded de-silting project from Pinatubo in the Sta. Rita River to reclaim land for the Gordon’s at Gordon Park.

Human Rights Violations

Illegal Arrest and detention and mauling of Fr. Shay Cullen. The dynasty is allegedly part of the Human Rights violations, illegal arrest and detention and the double handcuffing and mauling of Fr. Shay Cullen and Lowell Maglaqui on June 13 ,1997 by ordering the police to dismantle the picket against the power lines without a court order. Charges against the police are being heard in a Quezon City court By Judge Generoso.

SBMA guards riddle fishermen with machine gun fire kills two.

Gordon’s bodyguard guns boy. A Young boy was shot point blank in the head at the Olongapo public market near the Olongapo police station before many witnesses allegedly, by Juanito Susi the bodyguard of Richard Gordon. Susi was acquitted by a Judge friendly to the Dynasty despite eye witness to the shooting and the absence of any other suspect.

Fr. Shay Cullen Attacked By Gordon Goons Outside SBMA

SBMA officials denied freedom of movement and passage to Fr. Shay Cullen inside the SBMA in November, 1996. Then as he left the gate, a gang of hoodlums led by Mike Pusing, the Public Relations Officer of Mayor Gordon, physically attacked and beat Fr. Shay along Magsaysay Drive, Olongapo City. A foreign reporter accompanying Fr. Cullen was threatened with harm.

Preda Foundation, Inc. NEWS/ARTICLES: “Richard Gordons Ouster

More than 2,000 supporters from the city and the provinces carrying streamers like “Obama of the Philippines” and “Jojo Binay for President” gathered at 7 a.m. for a Thanksgiving Mass as they waited for the mayor to make the declaration.

In his speech, Binay, who is also the United Opposition president, criticized the Arroyo government by bringing up issues like the national broadband network scandal and the fertilizer fund scam and said there was need for another “revolution.”

“I am accepting your challenge to lead this revolution toward a progressive and respected Philippines,” said the activist and lawyer.

Binay was introduced by Makati Representative Teodoro “Teddyboy” Locsin Jr., who pointed out that the 19-year Makati mayor would like to be known for his “performance” and not his ambition.

“The city is the crowning testimony to his ability to lead the country,” Locsin said.

As to his programs, Binay said he would stamp out graft and corruption and focus on productivity and peace and order.

The mayor’s acceptance speech ended with the supporters releasing yellow and blue balloons with the print “Makati ngayon, Pilipinas bukas [Today Makati, tomorrow, the Philippines].”

INQUIRER.net,

As supporters of the mayor gathered outside his headquarters, police in Metro Manila were placed on alert in anticipation of possible violence. The entire affair is being shown live on television.

“This is pure harassment,” the fiery Binay told radio stations in successive interviews as the crisis began and police ringed the city hall of the country’s wealthiest enclave. The Department of the Interior and Local Government accuses Binay and other local officials of keeping so-called “ghost employees” on the municipal payroll in order to pocket their salaries. Binay, a one-time human rights lawyer, denies the charge.

Makati City, which is adjacent to Manila, is home to most of the country’s wealthiest businesses and many of its most prominent families. Binay, however, also has a powerful base of support among thousands of impoverished local residents in older areas of the city. He and his family have held power here almost continuously since the overthrow of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

Early last week, Binay asked the Philippines Court of Appeals to stop his impending suspension, arguing that the charges were trumped up. He said Tuesday he is confident of winning a reprieve from the court. “I will not back down,” he said.

Binay’s real crime may be his outspoken leadership of opposition figures wanting to out the scandal-wracked government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from office.

Below is a profile of Binay from the current edition of Manila’s NEWSBREAK magazine arguing that that the Presidential Palace is behind the campaign to oust Binay.

Purge in the City

Jo Jo Binay is the Mayor Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Loves to Hate

Reprinted by permission from NewsbreakMagazine, (October 23, 2006)
By Miriam Grace A. Go

EVEN BEFORE Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay warned about it, there already loomed an apparent pattern of opposition mayors, at least in Metro Manila, being stripped of certain powers by Malacañang. In March, there was Pasig City’s Vicente Eusebio; in August, Pasay City’s Wenceslao “Peewee” Trinidad. So when Binay cried political persecution over a series of administrative and graft complaints being prepared against him in September, it made people think.

Binay is the only one raising hell. Eusebio stayed abroad when he was embroiled in a controversy; Trinidad quietly asked the Court of Appeals to stop his suspension. Binay called for a press conference as soon as Malacañang asked him to respond to an administrative complaint, saying this was part of a plan to weaken the opposition. At the time, he didn’t know that a case over other allegations would soon be filed against him before the Sandiganbayan.

The truth is, the Palace is after Binay, just Binay.

Based on interviews with several sources in other local government units (LGUs) in the capital, NEWSBREAK didn’t see the administration systematically undermining the political strength of other mayors. But in Makati, there’s convincing information that the Palace is putting to motion a calculated campaign to remove the mayor from City Hall. Sources privy to certain aspects of the game plan say that a Cabinet official, known to do sensitive backroom work for the First Couple, is the Palace’s point man for the Makati project.

The problem of these opposition mayors is that the wrongdoings for which they are being questioned are backed by documents, regardless of the identity or political motivation of the complainants.

PRO-FPJ

On the surface, Binay’s allegation that opposition mayors are being singled out seems plausible.

In March this year, Pasig’s Eusebio became the first local chief executive in the national capital region (NCR) to be divested of supervision over his local police. In August, the Ombudsman placed Pasay’s Trinidad and practically his entire council on a six-month preventive suspension. Exactly a month later, the anti-graft body filed charges against Binay, his wife (who used to be mayor), and his entire council, while the Palace was studying a separate administrative complaint against him.

The three mayors supported Ms. Arroyo’s strongest rival in the 2004 presidential election, the late Fernando Poe Jr.

And being local executives, whatever suspension from office or reduction of powers are meted out to them have to be served by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), which is headed by the President’s known trouble-shooter, Ronaldo Puno.

(There are three ways a local official can be removed from office, either permanently or temporarily: as ordered by a criminal court, for crimes committed; by the Ombudsman or Sandiganbayan, for graft; by the Office of the President or a higher local government unit, for administrative offenses. The National Police Commission can take back its deputization of a mayor when there’s a breakdown in peace and order.)

Palace operatives offered a spin on the assassination of former Pasig congressman Henry Lanot. At the time of his death, Lanot was protesting his loss to re-electionist Eusebio in the mayoral polls. They said Lanot was killed because the ballots that he had asked to be reviewed would show that it was Poe who cheated Arroyo in the presidential election. They didn’t show proof nor name the alleged mastermind of the murder.

In Pasay, a councilor says the case against Mayor Trinidad, Vice Mayor Antonio Calixto, and 10 of the 12 councilors is a result of the rift between Trinidad and lone Pasay Rep. Connie Dy. But the fact is: the congresswoman is a member of the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino or KAMPI, the original party of the President which is now headed by Puno.

On the other hand, the administrative and graft cases against Binay came after he gave Sigaw ng Bayan a hard time soliciting signatures in the city for the Palace-backed people’s initiative to amend the Constitution. Binay is also president of the national United Opposition or UNO, and has been making the premier financial district available to anti-Arroyo rallies that are banned elsewhere in Metro Manila. In 2001, he was suspected of bussing in people for the May 1 demonstrations that threatened the then four-month-old Arroyo administration. An administration senator, Manuel “Lito” Lapid, also announced that he had been asked by the Arroyos to challenge Binay in the 2007 polls.

TOO FAST

The observation of Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Binay’s party mate in PDP-Laban, makes sense: if Binay and Trinidad will be placed under a six-month suspension now, they won’t be in offi ce by the time the campaign period starts in March 2007. They won’t have the so-called incumbent’s edge when they seek reelection.

The haste in the orders is questionable, too. When the Ombudsman is investigating an official, he is placed under preventive suspension, which normally lasts six months. This type of suspension doesn’t mean the official is guilty. He is temporarily removed from offi ce so he can’t hide or destroy evidence or intimidate his co-workers from testifying against him.

When a preventive suspension order is issued, the offi cial can go to the Court of Appeals (CA) for a temporary restraining order (TRO). Only after the CA has denied the petition for a TRO will the Ombudsman be able to implement the suspension order through the DILG.

In Trinidad’s case, his fellow Metro Manila mayors noted in a statement, the DILG immediately suspended the mayor and his council and swore in the acting mayor and vice mayor while the CA was still hearing Trinidad’s petition for a TRO.

In Binay’s case, the Ombudsman didn’t place him under preventive suspension. Instead, it filed on September 28 a case against him before the Sandiganbayan. This could mean Binay can be forced out of office immediately by the anti-graft court.

MORE THAN VOTES

Their cases, however, could not be considered political persecution on the basis of Poe’s victory in their areas because, if that were the case, Malacañang would have to cause the suspension of all mayors, except one, in Metro Manila. In the NCR, based on the certifi cates of canvass, President Arroyo won only in Las Piñas.

Even based on the margin that Poe had over her in Metro Manila’s LGUs, President Arroyo’s operators would not have pounced first on Eusebio, Trinidad, and Binay. Poe’s biggest leads over her were in Manila, the territory of her staunchest supporter Lito Atienza (82,410), in Kalookan City (65,265), and in Malabon/Navotas (62,967). President Arroyo’s smallest shares of votes, on the other hand, were in Malabon/Navotas (20.68 percent), Valenzuela (23.31 percent), and Kalookan (23.10 percent).

There’s no telling either if those being investigated are all anti-Arroyo politicians. Binay’s challenge for the national government to release a list of the LGU executives under investigation has been ignored. NEWSBREAK requested the same lists from Malacañang and the DILG, but was denied. The Ombudsman agreed to release its list, but we didn’t receive it before we went to press.

Based on newspaper reports (NEWSBREAK monitored 11 cases involving incumbents), political affiliation didn’t seem a factor.

For instance, Naga’s Jesse Robredo, known for his transparent governance and simple lifestyle, was ordered to be placed under a two-month preventive suspension in July over supposed graft—for failing to declare in his statement of assets company shares which he had divested more than a decade ago.

In Baguio City, where President Arroyo won with a big margin over Poe, first-term Mayor Braulio Yaranon was ordered suspended for one year by the DILG starting August. He committed “grave abuse of authority” when he prevented motorists from paying parking fees to a private company that had proper permits.

REASONABLE GROUNDS

But the grounds against the three opposition mayors in Metro Manila seem reasonable.

The NAPOLCOM removed police control from Eusebio in Pasig after national cops found an entire street where illegal drugs were openly peddled and pot sessions were conducted. It had been going on for three years, 100 meters away from City Hall, and the mayor took no action. After the raid that wasn’t coordinated with his office, Eusebio dismantled the shabu shanties that the national police was preserving as evidence in the court case.

The Pasay officials headed by Trinidad extended several times the garbage collection contracts of five companies without public bidding, and sometimes without supporting resolution from the city council. The contracts involved a total of P464 million.

Binay, his wife Elenita, and his councilors have been charged before the Sandiganbayan for awarding several contracts to office fixture suppliers that they apparently knew belonged to the same persons, allowing the monopoly of contracts; and for overpricing the said furniture pieces meant for the newly built city hall from 1999 to 2001. The alleged anomalies involve a combined amount of P232 million and the overpricing to P53 million. The contracts were awarded during the term of Elenita, and they were honored during Binay’s time. The complaint, filed by Binay’s nemesis Roberto Brillante (who had run for mayor but lost), was based on reports by the Commission on Audit.

Meanwhile, the administrative complaint, filed also by Brillante, involves Binay’s alleged retention of ghost employees who received P113 million in salaries from the city government.

BIG THREAT

The Arroyo administration sees Binay as a threat. At the height of street protests and coup plots that threatened to oust Ms. Arroyo last year, close allies of the President started gathering evidence for possible graft charges against Binay. They believed he was funding the rallies and helping rebel soldiers.

If Binay is feeling the heat—his critics cite as proof the tarpaulins suddenly flying all over Makati heralding his accomplishments—it didn’t help that his closest aide and friend Pablo “Lito” Glean was gunned down in mid-September. Although there are other angles that the police is pursuing, Binay insists that Glean was killed after the latter gathered sensitive information that the administration was out to liquidate the mayor.

Binay declined NEWSBREAK’s request for an interview.

The Palace strategy may succeed in pinning down Binay legally, but it could gain him voters’ sympathy. The Arroyo administration could learn from the experience of former President Fidel Ramos.

Ramos issued a suspension order against the reelectionist mayor before the 1995 polls. Instead of asking for a TRO, Binay, in Boy Scout uniform, allowed himself to be arrested and jailed. He was photographed from his cell shaking the hands of his supporters from the poor communities of Makati, and got out only after they passed the hat and raised bail money for him.

The underdog play apparently worked, and the ruling Lakas party failed to wangle Makati out of Binay’s hold. In 1998, as his last term ended, he got his wife Elenita to succeed him, while he delivered the vote to the opposition’s presidential candidate, Joseph Estrada.

The next thing his political enemies knew, Binay had become a heavyweight they now find difficult to topple.

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