Retired colonel in bribe try surfaces
By Pat C. Santos 07/21/2010 With a lawyer in tow, retired Philippine Air Force Lt. Col. Antonio Mariano, who has been accused by a National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) officer of having tried to bribe him into getting a government witness in the Maguindanao massacre case, yesterday surfaced and faced the media to deny allegations of a P10-million bribe try. Mariano met newsmen to deny reports he was the bagman in the multimillion-peso bribery attempt on witnesses in the murder case filed against Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan. In 2003, Mariano said he held three positions in the ARMM during Zaldy’s term: as executive director for housing; as DoTC undersecretary and as deputy regional governor of DoLE – positions that he held until his courtesy resignation last January. Mariano also did not deny that he is a friend of former NBI Director Nestor Mantaring whom he visits once in a while. He said that he could not think of any reason or motivation on the part of NBI counter-terrorism unit chief Ricardo Diaz in implicating him in the bribery scandal when he has always been a frequent visitor at the NBI even though he has long retired from the bureau. Oscar Embido, chief of the NBI-Internal Affairs Division, earlier said they had contacted Mariano over the phone and that he vehemently denied all the allegations against him. Officials of the NBI have also already sent a subpoena for Mariano to formally appear before the NBI to answer allegations that he attempted to bribe witness Kenny Dalagdag, through Diaz, with P10 million, for his recantation. Both Mantaring and former Justice chief Alberto Agra denied that they were ever informed by Diaz of the alleged bribe try.... MORESource: The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100721hed5.html |
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