TRANSCRIPT OF ANC INTERVIEW WITH
SENATE PRESIDENT FRANKLIN M. DRILON

Q: From an outsider's point of view, it was you the Senate President, Sec. Singson and Sec. Jimenez, to some people it seemed ithat you and the ICC have such credible backers. SPFMD: They were not backers. They did not back me. They were the implementers of the project. They did not go to the Senate to defend me. They went there to defend the project that they launched.

Q: How they defended it, to me, especially Sec. Singson, is almost like your defense. It was almost like, "Hindi ko papayagang masira ang pangalan ko because of corruption," Sec. Singson said that "I joined public service to serve God and country, and not to make money," "If I made a single peso in this project, I will resign." I only said these because especially, Sec. Singson - who has so much credibility, and who was forced to join government out of love of country, right?

SPFMD: That's correct. Babes Singson is one of the most credible Cabinet secretaries and so is Ramon Jimenez. The two of them implemented this project. I conceptualized it because we were not getting visitors and tourists in Iloilo. I talked with the hotel industry, the tourism rate was rock bottom, and I asked them why. They threw back the question to me, "What will they do here when they come to Iloilo City?"

What we need here is a convention center that will cater to conventions, and incidentally visitors will take a look at our old churches, to taste the food, and the hospitality - and these will generate economic benefits, generate jobs and industry. It is for that reason that I conceptualized this Iloilo Convention Center.

Q: I am looking at the old pictures of the churches and the beaches, and the Higantes Island. Where is Higantes Island?

SPFMD: Higantes Island is in north of Iloilo. But you know, if you are an ordinary professional, you will not go out of your way in two days just to go to the Higantes Island. But if say, you are a professional - a physician, and you go there to a medical convention, when you are there, you will go now out of your way to see these nearby places. That is the purpose of the Convention Center.

Q: Is there something wrong with the Senate President wanting to develop tourism where you actually come from? Is that a lot of you guys do?

SPFMD: There is nothing wrong with that. All of us we try to help our own birthplace, and as well as other areas. Like me, my PDAF went to the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chamber, where we built 1, 600 classrooms all over the Philippine at half of government prices. When I was Secretary of Justice, I helped build hundreds of courtrooms all over the Philippines, that involved billions of peso in public funds passed through my hands, and nobody said that I stole anything out of those projects. I have been in government service for 25 years, and at no instance did the Ombudsman ask me to explain anything. Not once.

Of course, cases are filed- even anonymous complaints, can be entertained. But not once was I asked to explain. Not a single case has been filed against me in the Sandiganbayan, which means probable cause have been established. That is why this hurts me. Ang pamana ko lang sa aking mga anak ay yung aking pangalan. That is why we protect our names. Wala naman akong ibibigay sa aking mga anak except my legacy.

Here it's very clear that this allegation is totally baseless. Sen. Miriam called it a "dud." The Philippine Daily Inquirer said that "nothing there, walang laman." I think the whole nation have heard my critic say, "I have no evidence. All I have are arguments." Well arguments are not evidence. You can allege this and that but is there a proof of corruption? There is none.

We had four hours of hearing. During that, Mejorada himself admitted that he has no proof of any corruption. Sec. Babes Singson, whose credibility is beyond question had said, "I stand by this work, this project." Sec. Ramon Jimenez explained the benefits of this project.

Q: He came at the right place at the right time.

SPFMD: Well yes, but the allegations about the corruption are also suspect. Why now? You know, why now, when there is no evidence?

Q: How big is the ICC, I understand the 17,000 hectares was donated by the Megaworld for the ICC. Let's give the viewers a rough understanding.

SPFMD: The Megaworld property which is now being developed, and it was the old airport for Iloilo, which we moved to Santa Barbara, which I have worked on during a 1998 JICA project. This was 52 hectares, and it was bidded out, the bidders if I remember correctly were Megaworld, the Gokongwei and a few other property developers. And the highest bidder was Megaworld. He purchased this in 2004 or thereabouts. I really could not remember the exact date, but it was Megaworld who purchased it.

He has developed it into a Business Center, and when this lack of a convention facility came up, I sat down with Andrew Tan and a few other concerned Ilonggo citizens, and we proposed to him, "There is no convention center, and we will ask you to help us if you can donate a portion of your property for the convention center." And he did donate, 17,500 hectares and it was roughly P30,000 per square meter, thus over P500 million.

The Department of Tourism who is the official donee, adopted the project and said, "Alright I will undertake it. We will raise funds." And DPWH implemented the project.

The project will be finished - until Mejorada does something foolish - in the first quarter of next year, around April or March, and we will be hosting the APEC senior ministerial meetings in September. The Ilonggos are looking forward to this. Iloilo has been neglected in previous administrations, and only now that we are able to do this things. My kababayans look forward to hosting this event.

Q: What does Megaworld have to gain with donating the P571 million worth of property?

SPFMD: Well what do they have to gain? It is an accepted fact that structures such as this ICC will enhance the value of the surrounding properties. In fact, I understand that a big bank has recently purchased a piece of property for P45,000 per sqm.

So truth to tell, yes there is commercial gain on the part of Megaworld, but what is wrong with that? They are in business. It is a classic PPP (Public-Private Partnership). They donate a property, we build a convention center, they profit from the flow of people attracted to the conventions, they gain from the enhanced value of the properties.

Q: How I understand is that they donated the property because they want the property to appreciate.

SPFMD: They donated the property because they want people to come in. Yes, with that condition on mind, they imposed a condition on the donation, 1.) It must be used for a convention center, 2.) The convention center must be consistent with the overall design. That is why they donated the design, the architectural plans, at no cost for the government.

Q: Let me clarify that. Who did the architectural plans?

SPFMD: It was Coscoluella. I am not a technical person, but it was Megaworld who donated the plans of the property.

Q: So we give you the land, and the architectural designs for the center, by Mr. Coscolluela, and then pagkatapos po nuon, Hillmarc's will build it?

SPFMD: The construction was bidded out according to the rules. There were two other bidders, DMCI - the D.M. Consunji and then Hillmarc's. And both their bids were beyond the agency limit, and what Babe Singson did was what he called as "value engineering," where you examine the structure and see what can be saved without compromising the structure. That is exactly what they did. And they were able to lower the cost of about a P128 million.

We are very transparent here. Wala po kaming tinatago, wala po kaming ninakaw dito ni piso.

Q: You were saying also that you were only present in the first phase, tapos nung natapos na yung first phase, nag-usap kayo ng president ng Megaworld , Andrew Tan, who decided to donate the 1.7 hectares, and then you were saying in many interviews, tapos na kayo after that.

SPFMD: This is in context. 1.) The conceptualization - the idea of a need for a convention center was brought out of my discussion with the hotel industry of Iloilo. 2.) I sat down with Megaworld, to ask that they donate a piece of property, and they agreed, because it was mutually beneficial, to the government, to Iloilo, and to them. 3.) I was the one who requested for funding, and a part of the funding came from the controversial DAP. Let's admit it. P200 million came from the regular budget of the DPWH. The other P200 million came from the corporate funds of TIEZA. So we are hiding nothing here.

It is just unfortunate that a guy like Mejorada, who I fired a couple of years ago for using my Facebook account to attack his political enemies, is now in the forefront of this. We just have to take that as part of doing our work in the government.

Q: Do you feel that at some point, Sen. Nancy Binay asked if there was any endorsement by any political personality, your answer to that would obviously be yes.

SPFMD: Yes, I said that on tape, "Why don't you ask me?" I volunteered that I asked for funding. What is important is the use of the funds, and not the fact that I requested for funding, because I can produce a stack of boxes of letters also asking for funding for other projects. That is not unusual. That is certainly, as an elected official, as one who is frequently consulted by people, we also would have the capacity to request for funds on the projects we feel are important. It is up to the executive to judge whether these requests are valid, and to grant these requests or not. But the mere fact that I asked for funding, there is nothing wrong with that.

Q: Do you feel in the end there might be a little bit of a problem, because as you have said some of the money came from the Disbursement Acceleration Program, as some projects have been in the past.

SPFMD: No.

Q: Because of the presumption of legality?

SPFMD: That is correct. Long before the Supreme Court declared it as unconstitutional, the money has been already released, the bidding was already done, and the construction had been started. The money had already been spent and we are willing to stand by that.

Q: I think Sen. Miriam Santiago went as far as to call, she was speaking at a forum, said that the testimony of Mr. Mejorada was a dud, and could be cited for contempt.

SPFMD: That is correct. That is the view of my colleague, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago. And there is almost a unanimity among the members of the Blue Ribbon Committee that at the very least, witnesses should be vetted before they are allowed to face the hearing. Because of what we saw in the Mr. Mejorada, Sen. Osmena said that we should vet them before we allow them to sit down." Sonny Trillanes, Sonny Angara, even Grace Poe have said that we should vet them. Koko Pimentel has said that we should vet them.

Q: It could come down to the evidence that he said, he didn't really have evidence. In essence he was saying that this is something that he took out of Wikipedia, and there is something he heard in whispers. To me, this is talk, usap-usapan ito na overpriced ang Iloilo Convention Center. I guess it turns off some of the senators?

SPFMD: Not only it turns off, it is a complete waste of time. You waste people's money, and you waste the senators' time listening to you say, "I am an investigative journalist, I got it from wikipedia." I was talking to a respected journalist last night, and he said he wanted to puke when he heard that.

Q: That was why Sec.Singson said that he could have asked for the papeles. In the end, when he came up with such an evidence in the hearing, were you relieved? Did you think that it was done? I know it has to have the endorsement of the chairman of the Blue Ribbon Committee, but really after that, how did you feel?

SPFMD: I didn't feel relieved from the very start since I knew exactly where we stood. I knew exactly that Babes Singson at the helm of the process, there was no kalokohan, and all that Mejorada did was to confirm it. He even mentioned that, before the hearing, in Karen Davila's show, "I have no evidence."

All of this obviously, well the timing is suspect.

Q: Who do you think is behind this?

SPFMD: I don't know. I would not want to speculate. When we started the Makati hearings, Junjun Binay has said," Why are you only investigating the Makati Building? Why don't you also investigate the Iloilo Convention Center?" It is up to the people to conclude.

Q: Have you, or will you, file charges against Mr. Mejorada?

SPFMD: Even before the hearing, because of what he wrote in his blog, attacking me for supposed corruption, I filed libel charges against him. I have to protect my rights, I want to protect my name. Pinangangalagaan ko itong pong aking pangalan, wala po akong ibang kayamanan. I avail of the right any ordinary citizen has under the law to be able to protect my name, which is to file a libel case against him.

Q: There is an ongoing Senate investigation on the Makati building, and this is not something that you really attend, yung hearing kay Vice President Binay. Let's just do a quick comparison. You're issue whether it's valid or not, that 's the judgment of the people. The Binay issue has gone to the twelfth issue. Yours has gone into the first, and it doesn't seem that there is going to be a second one.

SPFMD: As I have said, I have inhibited myself. Whether there is going to be a second hearing is something that the committee will have to determine. Because in the Senate we are a collegial body, so it is the senators who will have to decide on the action to take. The chairman is primus inter pares - the first among equals, but the decision making is done by the whole committee as a collegial body. I am the Senate President, I am primus inter pares, but I do not control what happens.

But having said that, I am willing to support to continue this investigation, to support this investigation if it continues. But if it does continue is a decision of the body.

Q: There is talk that of course, you are the Senate President, and majority of members of the Senate are part of the administration.

SPFMD: You have seen how the senators conduct themselves. Whether they are part of the majority or the minority, if they see something fishy, they will pursue it. They pursue the evidence. Here, there is no evidence. Argumentation is not evidence. There is no evidence, direct or circumstantial that shows corruption being committed. Sec. Singson stands with what he did. Sec. Jimenez stands with what he did.

Q: You still have a lot of legislation in the Senate, let's run through them real quick.

SPFMD: This afternoon we are going to start the budget debates. And we have passed significant legislation. We have saved the livelihood of our overseas maritime workers, the maritime industry. We passed a law which would grant automatic coverage to the senior citizens. We are going to pass a law which would grant tax exemption to the 13th month pay.

Q: That is something a lot of people are waiting for.

SPFMD: Yes. We also passed a law that would compel cigarette companies to put graphic warnings. Those who smoke, yung mga bagang nasisira, lalabas po iyan sa pakete ng sigarilyo. Ang graphic warning napublish na, the cigarette industry has been given a year to dispose and phase out their packing. It will be done.

We also passed a law that will give automatic scholarship to top 10 students in public highschools so therefore they will have free education in college. We have increased the subsistence allowance of the AFP and the PNP. We will pass a law which will increase the fine to illegal fishing because unless we do this the EU will impose a ban, on our tuna exports, and therefore it will cause hardship to our fishermen in General Santos.

The media is focused on the Blue Ribbon Committee hearings, but I can assure you and my countrymen, that we continue to do the work. We continue to pass legislation necessary for the benefit of the people.