25 summoned by Senate for ‘euro generals’ probe

MANILA, Philippines - Two Senate committees that will jointly investigate the "euro generals" scandal have invited and subpoenaed a total of 25 personalities to attend Saturday's hearing on the mess. Aside from police officials directly involved in the scandal, also included in the list was Tyrone Ng Arejola, the man who reportedly gave dela Paz 45,000 euros for the purchase of some watches in Moscow. Also subpoenaed were money changer owners Felisa Sakaluran and Ofelia Tolentino who converted the Philippine currencies brought by Dela Paz to euros, and Rolando Medestomas of AWAL Foreign Currency Exchange who allegedly sold to Maria Fe dela Paz $20,000. The hearing, which will be jointly conducted by the Senate Foreign Relations and Blue Ribbon Committees, is set for 10 a.m. Saturday. Also subpoenaed were: • Former PNP comptroller Eliseo Dela Paz and his wife; • PNP chief Director General Jesus Verzosa and wife Cynthia; • Retired Director Rolando Garcia of the Philippine Center for Transnational Crime and head of the RP delegation to the 77th Interpol Assembly; • Deputy Director General Emmanuel Carta, deputy chief for administration; • Deputy Director General Ismael Rafanan, deputy chief for operations; • Director Romeo Ricardo, director for plans; • Silverio Alarcio Jr, director for operations; • Recently retired Director Jaime Caringal, former regional director for Zamboanga Peninsula; • Chief Superintendent Raul Bacalzo, director of the PNP Investigation and Detective Management and chairman of the fact-finding committee that investigated the Moscow scandal; • Senior Superintendent Tomas Rentoy III, chief of the PNP budget division who released the P6.93 million to Dela Paz; • Director Edgardo Acuňa of the PNP personnel and records management who issued the travel authority; • Director German Doria, head of human resources and doctrine development who issued the guidelines on foreign travel; • Supt Elmer Pellobello, aide-de-camp; and • Nixon Dizon, PCTC consultant. On the other hand, those invited in the hearing were: • Commission on Audit chairman Reynaldo Villar; • Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo; • Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor and chairman of the Anti-Money Laundering Council Amando Tetangco Jr; • National Police Commission vice chairman Eduardo Escueta; and • PNP resident auditor Jaime Serrano. - Amita Legaspi, GMANews.TV