Santiago wants probe into ‘raid’ on Robredo condo

MANILA, Philippines – Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago said Saturday, September 8, she will file a resolution calling for a Senate inquiry into Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno’s alleged attempt to retrieve sensitive documents from the condominium of his late boss, Jesse Robredo, a day after the latter’s plane crashed.

“Why was he (Puno) there? What was he looking for? Why was it totally necessary to grab hold of them (documents)? Santiago said in an interview aired by the ABS-CBN News Channel.

An Inquirer report quoting Santiago said the senator also wants Puno’s “unique and anomalous” authority as overseer of police matters at the Department of Interior and the Local Government (DILG) investigated.

The same report said Santiago also wants to know what Puno did to stop the illegal numbers game jueteng, which Robredo tried to curb through an intensified campaign while he was still alive.

Odd visit to Robredo’s place

Less than a day after Robredo’s plane crashed off Masbate August 18, Puno and some policemen allegedly tried to gain access to Robredo’s condominium in Quezon City.

Robredo’s wife, Leni, confirmed that their house help informed her that a group of men wanted to get inside their unit to “get papers.”

Leni could not identify the men, but the visitors’ log of the condo listed the names of Puno, Police Supt. Oliver Tanseco and two others with the surnames Togonon and Pagdilao.

An ABS-CBN report said one of the documents in Robredo’s condo pertained to an investigation into Puno’s involvement in an alleged anomalous procurement of arms for the Philippine National Police (PNP) worth nearly P400 million. The bidding for the procurement was shelved.

The report said Puno and several PNP officers were the subject of the investigation, led by the late DILG chief himself.

A Philippine Star report quoted Tanseco as saying Puno was ordered by no less than President Benigno Aquino III to secure Robredo’s condo, office and personal belongings.

Tanseco insisted that with the support of the Office of the Internal Security under the Presidential Security Group, they wanted to secure sensitive documents that were in Robredo’s possession prior to his death.

Still, Robredo’s wife was apparently not informed about the alleged presidential order. After the attempted entry into their condo, she asked Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to secure the documents.

Puno is a close friend of President Aquino, and a former gun supplier.

Inaction against jueteng?

The alleged anomalous bidding for the procurement of arms was just one of the many investigations that Robredo led.

On top of Robredo’s agenda was eradicating the illegal numbers game.

As DILG chief, he pushed the PNP to take a tough stand against jueteng, adopting a “one-strike policy” against police chiefs who were found to have failed to stop it in their areas of jurisdiction.

Santiago questioned Puno’s efforts in the fight against jueteng, stressing that Puno has oversight of police matters at the DILG. – Rappler.com