On the night of October 3, 2000 at about eleven o'clock, I was the target of an apparent assassination attempt as two patrol cars and one red private vehicle, loaded with heavily armed PNP elements, blocked my vehicle along San Marcelino St., Manila.
I had just come from a meeting with the mayors of my province at nearby Holiday Inn and, fortunately, I was in a present cell-phone conversation with one of the mayors when I realized the danger I was in.
I expressed my alarm to the mayor and the whole group of mayors immediately came to my rescue just when these PNP elements persistently demanded that I open my door and step out of my car. These members of PNP, coming from nowhere and were led by one in civilian clothes, were all poised to shoot and yet, when confronted by myself and the mayors, alleged some charges of flimsy traffic violations.
From that incident, I now fear for my life and that of my family as I realize that I had narrowly escaped death that fateful night of October 3.
I am making this statement to substantiate what I now claim, that the October 3 incident was indeed a planned move to silence me for what I am about to divulge and which involves no less than President Joseph E. Estrada himself.
I have sworn statements, copies of which will be given to all members of the Press, to the effect that I was instructed by President Estrada to take over the role of Mr. Charlie "Atong" Ang of receiving and remitting to him (the President) his share of jueteng money from the jueteng operators in the country.
I also have sworn statements to the effect that I gave President Estrada the sum of P130 million from my province's share of proceeds from Republic Act 7171-a sum which was a precondition from him before he was to approve my province's R.A. 7171 fund release.
I agreed to both, the role of collecting jueteng money for Mr. Estrada and the precondition to the release of R.A. 7171 funds, because I was desperate to make good our campaign compromise to our people that an Estrada presidency would finally ensure the progress and development we had long been hoping for through the use of R.A. 7171 funds.
It will be recalled that R.A. 7171, which mandates a 15% share of excise taxes on the manufacture of Virginia-type cigarettes accruing to the four Virginaia tobacco-producing provinces, was authored by me during my stint as Congressman of Ilocos Sur. This law was enacted way back in 1992, during the last days of President Corazon Aquino.
It's implementation, however, was delayed during the Ramos administration to the frustration of everyone in Ilocandia. We patiently sat out the six-year term of President Ramos and built our hopes for R.A. 7171 on the presidency of Mr. Estrada.
I was the first among the few who stood out for Mr. Estrada's presidential bid in 1998, thinking that having a personal friend as the President would be the best thing happening for my province and people. I was wrong and I started to realize this mistake when circumstances led to my conclusion that the bottomline for Mr. Estrada is none other than the amount of money going to his pockets.
I risked my reputation by agreeing to Mr. Estrada's terms of our relationship as I needed to keep affirming to our people, and all those within my sphere of influence, that we had done the right thing in electing Mr. Estrada to the presidency.
Mr. Charlie "Atong" Ang was bent on reclaiming his closeness to President Estrada and one way he knew would work was to discredit me by convincing Mr. Estrada that I was skimming the jueteng money that I was collecting for him.
Mr. Estrada also lost interest in releasing anymore our R.A. 7171 funds when I could not promise anymore in exchange for his approval of succeeding the due releases for our province.
Now, I stand to lose as much as my own life because I know too much and Mr. Estrada, apparently, has been convinced by Mr. Ang that I can no longer be trusted to keep my silence.
I have broken my silence knowing that I am opening myself to all possible retaliations from the most powerful man in the country. But I am doing this in the hope that I can help in rectifying the situation where we have placed the fate of our country, and the future of our children, in the hands of a self-indulged man who could surely lead us all to destruction.
I appeal to all, especially our elected legislators to cross party lines and rally now to the higher call of duty and patriotism, as Mr. Estrada's four more years in office may result to an irreversible catastrophe to the entire Filipino people.
I have now sought refuge for myself and my family from the one person I can fully trust...His eminence, Jaime Cardinal Sin.
For what I have done, I beg for understanding as I hold myself solely accountable for my humble assessment of what is right or what is wrong.
As to the rest of my life, I now leave to the mercy of the Lord Almighty.