Says he won't run out of 'ammunition' vs Estradas

MANILA - Senator Panfilo Lacson on Wednesday said that his exposés, at the moment, are "over," but said he won't run out of "ammunitions" against former President Joseph Estrada and his son, Senator Jinggoy Estrada.

"I think it's over," Lacson said in an interview on the ABS-CBN News Channel, moments after Senator Estrada gave his rebuttal to Lacson's 2nd privilege speech at the Senate.

However, he might give another exposé on the former leader's alleged illegal exploits when "validated by future events," or what he says are changes of the perception of the Filipino electorate towards Estrada.

"I cannot say as of now that I have accomplised what I intend to accomplish in the first place, because it should be validated by forthcoming perception on President Estrada by the Filipino people," he said.

Lacson said it could be triggered by results of forthcoming presidential surveys.

Lacson also said that he won't get in the way of other important business in the chamber since it is already the time when government agencies submit their budget proposals for approval.

No rebuttal

He also explained why he did not rebut Estrada's privilege speech.

"It's because he always refuses to be interpellated. The first time I delivered my speech, he stood up, [and] I was waiting for him to interpelate me, but he did not. He just manifested on the floor. Then during his privilege speech, I stood up and requested that he be interpellated by me, but he refused, and instead, again, he made a manifestation," Lacson said.

"I thought it was useless for me to stay in the session hall and listen to his speech. I just monitored his speech in my office here in the 5th floor, and even if I would manifest that I would interpellate him ealrlier, I don't think that he would allow me to do that," he said.

"That is the prerogative of every senator not to be interpellated if she doesn't want to defend the positions or trhe issues that he raises on the floor," he said.

Mateo interview 'old'

Lacson also said that the video presented by Sen. Estrada, which showed an alleged "dying declaration" of Francisco "Kit" Mateo, was an old video, and that Mateo recanted his statements on the said video in another interview which followed it.

"This interview that he presented was an earlier interview, and in the subsequent interview, Kit Mateo recanted everything that he said in this particular interview that Sen. Jinggoy presented in his privilege speech," he said.

"I was quite surprised when I was watching the privilege speech because as I told you earlier, that video clip was supposed to be negated by Kit Mateo himself," he said.

He also said that Estrada was lambasting him on the Kuratong Baleleng case, which he said has been dismissed several times at different fora.

Bentain case

Lacson also clarified that the information on the disappearance of Pagcor employee Edgar Bentain, which he revealed in his 2nd privilege speech, came to him 3 days after his 1st privilege speech.

He said he is still gathering data on the Bentain issue, and he shall meet with the Bentain family and tell the Filipino people as well of his findings.

"If I gather enough facts or information regarding the disappearance and the killing (which was) reported to me about Bentain, then I shall meet with the family of Bentain and (tell) the Filipino people as well," he said.

Lacson also said that it was necessary to "expose" Sen. Estrada's alleged backdoor activities, since he also lambased the senator.

"That was in response to his first privilege speech, because in that speech he also lambasted me," he said.

Estrada's allegation that Lacson got hold of information via wiretapping also showed that the conversation did take place, said Lacson. With reports from the ABS-CBN News Channel