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Saturday, January 27, 2001 02:44 AM ZE8
Luis Singson: Whistleblower
An exclusive report from ASSIGNMENT with Teddy Locsin Jr.
Thursdays, 11:30 p.m.
Ilocos Sur Governor Luis "Chavit" Singson is a sharpshooter.
His expose of Joseph Estrada' s crime and misdemeanor was right on target. Erap must feel like a sniper' s victim, politically dead on the floor.
"Best friend, malapit na kaibigan, best enemy, nangyayari katulad ng nangyari sa amin ni Presidente. Mahalaga sa akin ang kaibigan, kaya masamang-masama ang loob ko nung ganun ang ginawa ni Pangulong Estrada sa akin," he says.
(Friends are important to me, that's why I was so hurt when President Estrada did that to me.)
The friendship really had no deep roots, though Singson says he and Erap go back a long way. But years are not an adequate measure of the relationship' s quality, especially with only politics as its foundation.
When Estrada made it to the presidency, Singson became part of the elite midnight cabinet in Malacañang.
"Nung 1999, madalas kaming mag-mahjong every weekend. Hindi lang weekend. Pag walang tao sa Malacañang, nagma-mahjong na kami eh. At pag gabi na, nag-iinuman na," Singson says.
(In 1999, we would often play mahjong every weekend. Not even on the weekend. If there were no people in Malacañang, we would play mahjong. And when night came, we would start drinking.)
Singson expected his nocturnal carousing with the Chief Executive to speed up the release of funds for his pet projects in Ilocos Sur.
The RA 7171 funds, about P400 million according to Singson's estimate, would finance tobacco curing barns in the province.
"Buong mundo meron ng curing barns ang magsasaka, sa tabako , Pilipinas na lang ang wala. Kasi pag malagay namin yun, the farmers can save time and money, dahil mga farmers namin, di nila maibenta, hanggang di niluluto," he said.
(Tobacco farmers all over the world have curing barns, except here in the Philippines. If we get those, the farmers can save time and money. They can't sell the tobacco until it is treated.)
Singson heavily banked on Estrada' s word but the ex-President reneged on his promise of an early release of the funds.
Although Mr. Estrada released about P200 million of the funds, he wanted a cut. He also wanted the lion' s share of the proceeds from Singson' s illegal gambling collections in Ilocos Sur.
Singson says he only agreed to take over the jueteng collections so he could get what he really wanted, which was the RA 7171 fund.
However, the former President demanded more and more each time.
"Para bang pinag-sususpetsahan palagi. Ba' t di mo mapalaki yan ? Pinasa lang yan. Gobernador ako. Paano naman akong pupunta sa iba-ibang probinsya, patataasin ko yung koleksyon ng jueteng? Mahirap naman yun. Sinabi ko minsan kay Bong Pineda, bakit? Si Atong Ang mismo ang nagsabi sa akin, sugapa sa pera yan," he recounts.
(It was like he suspected me all the time. Why can't you make the collections bigger? It was only passed to me. I am a governor. How can I go to different provinces and try to raise jueteng collections? That would be difficult. I even asked Bong Pineda at one time why (the President was like that). It was Atong Ang who told me that he (Estrada) was greedy for me.)
On hindsight, how would Singson rate Estrada ?
"Walang programa, parang tamad siyang lumabas, pinakakansel lagi yung mga appointments. Bat di mo puntahan ? 'Eh bayaan mo na, di naman tayo re-electionist.' Kaya tamad ng magtrabaho. Ang ginawa na lang niya, kung paano siya kumita habang presidente siya," Singson says.
(He had no programs. He didn't like going out. He cancelled his appointments. Why didn't he go? (He'd say) 'Let it go, I'm not a re-electionist anway.' That's why he was lazy at work. All he did was work on making money while he was President.)
Singson admits he and the fomer President shared shenanigans. Still, he says he and Estrada were not birds of the same feathers.
Estrada, he said, was a vulture.
"Totoo nga yun, birds of the same feather flock together. Siguro kaya kami nagkahiwalay dahil di kami magka-pareho ng balahibo," Singson said.
(That's true, birds of the same feather flock together. That's probably why we separated ways because we were not of the same feather.
Hindsight tells us that Singson had less than noble reasons for dumping Estrada.
Jueteng operations in his province were halted and replaced by Bingo 2-ball, which Estrada entrusted to a rival politician in Ilocos Sur.
Then, an alleged assassination attempt on Singson pushed the Governor over the limit.
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