Mike challenges Lacson to charge him in court

President Gloria Arroyo's embattled husband, Jose Miguel, yesterday challenged Senator Panfilo Lacson to file formal charges against him in court as he dared the opposition lawmaker to produce solid proof on his alleged multi-million peso secret bank accounts.

"Take me to court," Jose Miguel, more popularly known as "Mike," challenged Lacson after he gave local reporters a tour of his personal office at the family-owned LTA building in Makati City.

Lacson, in a privilege speech at the Senate on Monday, said the President and her husband amassed at least P271 million ($5.1 million) from favour seekers and are keeping this money in four secret bank accounts one of which is named after a fictitious person "Jose Pidal." The other three accounts were named after Mike's personal secretary Victoria Toh, her brother Thomas Toh Jr. and brother in law Kelvin Tan.

Victoria is presently vacationing in Vancouver, Canada, after leaving the country last month, according to her lawyer.

The Senator also said that the president's husband is using the LTA building for meeting favour seekers that include several appointed government officials and well-known journalists.

The press tour of the LTA building yesterday took place as protesters held a demonstration in front of the establishment calling for Mike's prosecution.

But as the Lacson accusations against Mike entered its third day yesterday, the president's husband seemed to be getting the upper hand.

On Tuesday, Lacson urged the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to look into the four supposedly secret accounts and freeze the deposits. But AMLC executive director Vic Aquino said they could not freeze the alleged multi-million-peso bank accounts of Arroyo without a court order.

"Since the (anti-money laundering) law was amended, the power to issue a freeze order (on bank accounts) was transferred to the Court of Appeals from the AMLC," Aquino said.

Aside from the setback with the AMLC, the Bank of Philippine Island has issued a certification that the branch in Perea St. in Makati City where the Jose Pidal deposits is allegedly with, has closed down four years ago. "The release of the certification clearly belies Senator Lacson's allegation that there is a bank statement dated July 30, 2003 allegedly showing millions in the name of Jose Pidal," Mike said.

"How could there be such a bank statement if the bank has been closed for several years?" Arroyo asked.

Also yesterday, Gelacio Mamaril, lawyer of Victoria and Thomas Toh, told reporters that the bank account which Lacson identified as among Mike's secret deposits indeed existed but these contain money which belong to his clients.

During his Monday expose, Lacson told the Senate that the Toh siblings and Tan have money in their respective accounts which are not commensurate to their incomes.

Aside from Victoria working as secretary for Mike, the Tohs and Tans are co-owners of a hardware store in Mandaluyong City.

Lacson said Victoria Toh, has P19.3 million ($350,909) in her account while Thomas had P7.5 million ($136,363).

Debunking Senator Lacson's allegations, Mamaril said his clients are capable of owning such amounts of money.