A BUSINESS LEADER has denied allegations that he is the conduit of billions of pesos coming from Malaysia to bribe Philippine senators and congressmen in approving the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law now pending before both Houses of Congress.
In a text message, contractor Vicente T. Lao, who heads the Mindanao Business Council (MBC), said the text message spreading around that he is acting as bagman of Malaysia of huge sum of money to be distributed to Philippine lawmakers for the passage of the controversial BBL is not true.
Lao said the claim that he was acting as “bagman of Malaysia” “is not only false, but incredible to believe on its face” as text messages were circulating that he was dangling P200 million for each senator and P50 million for each member of the House so that the proposal would be approved.
“I am taking steps to trace the source of this scurrilous text message especially in the business circles where I operate as a businessman,” said the MBC chair.
The allegation, which even mislabeled Lao as vice chair of the Mindanao Development Council, was circulating through text messages and sent to key Mindanao leaders. Some media practitioners were able to receive the same message early this week.
Lao suspected he was dragged into the controversy as he has been expressing support of the proposal as he maintained that solving the peace problem will remove the obstacle to Mindanao’s development.
“Unless we will have peace in these areas, it will never be developed to provide a better life for our brother Muslims in Mindanao,” he said.
Both Houses of Congress have slowed down in discussing the proposal after the January 25 incident that saw the killing of members of the elite police unit, members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and civilians.
The proposal was a product of the 17-year peace negotiations between the Moro rebel group and the government. Last year, the two sides signed the comprehensive framework agreement which became the basis for BBL. AMA
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