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Guv, 3 solons deny Palace "cash gifts"
By KIT BAGAIPO
   
AUMENTADO, CHATTO, CAJES, JALA
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Governor
Erico Aumentado and congressmen Edgar Chatto, Roberto
Cajes and Adam Relson Jala denied having received money
during a breakfast meeting in Malacañang on Thursday
last week. |
Aumentado
urged fellow governors and the congressmen who said they received
cash gifts during a meeting in Malacañang to return
the money.
The
governor also challenged them to identify the persons who
handed out the cash.
"If they think it is bribe money, then they should return
it," said Aumentado during his weekly radio program "The
Governor Reports" last Friday.
Aumentado
categorically denied having known of the alleged cash distribution
during a breakfast meeting at the Palace on Thursday last
week.
"If
I was given the money, I would have returned it," Aumentado
said.
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Aumentado
said he left the meeting to catch a flight back to Bohol
right after delivering his valedictory address as outgoing
president of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines
(ULAP).
He
said he did not even wait for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
to show up for the meeting, as it was supposedly exclusive
for lawmakers allied with the administration.
"But
in fairness to the Bohol solons, they were also in a
rush to catch a flight back to Bohol" for the Presidential
visit early the following day, Aumentado said.
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IN
A RUSH TO LEAVE
Second
district Rep. Roberto Cajes said, "I left right after
[the] breakfast [meeting] since I have to report to the House
of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) which holds en
banc hearings every Thursday at exactly 9 am, [of which I
am] a member.
Then
I had to rush to the airport with Rep. Edgar Chatto (1st District,
Bohol) and Rep. Adam Relson Jala (3rd District, Bohol) for
the presidential visit early Friday in Bohol."
Pres. Arroyo inaugurated the controversial P3.6 billion Bayongan
Dam in San Miguel town Friday morning.
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Rep.
Cajes added "I will do a Panlilio if given money."
Rep.
Chatto said "I was not aware of any giving of gifts
or release of SAROs for projects while in the Palace."
Rep.
Jala said he "left the breakfast meeting at Malacañang
early as I had to catch up with my flight for Bohol
at 10 am that day."
Rep. Chatto said that like the two other Bohol solons,
he was also in hurry to leave the Malacañang
breakfast meeting to catch with his flight back to the
province to make preparations for the presidential visit
early the following day.
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PANLILIO |
According
to Rep. Chatto, Pres. Arroyo came late for the breakfast meeting,
hence he did not wait for the meeting to be finished and left.
"Bohol
congressmen were there briefly for breakfast but did not stay
long because we need to be in Congress to manifest our presence
for the morning budget plenary session before rushing to the
airport to catch up with our flight," Chatto explained.
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