FINAL REPORT - Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

officemates were sent in his behalf and they distributed envelopes
each containing P25,000 to the attendees.
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13. Before we ended the meeting, 1 brought up the matter
of the accommodation at Rothman Hotel in Malate of the 27 RDs and
PES because our office could spend only for one day. Bong Pineda asked
me how much was needed and when I gave the estimate of more than
P100,000, Bong Pineda immediately gave me P150,000 in cash and,
if this would not be enough, to tell him how much the shortage
would be. We were also told that PGMA wanted to have a secret
dinner with the Mindanao RDs and PES at her house in La Vista.
Mrs. Pineda would send a vehicle to fetch all the officials from
Rothman Hotel. I remember this was in January 2004.
14. When the day of the dinner came, a Coaster and a Land
Cruiser arrived at the hotel around 5 P.M. All election officials rode on
the Coaster; only Atty. Francisco Pobe (PES of Agusan del Norte) and
myself were in the Land Cruiser. On the way to La Vista, we dropped by
McDonald’s and for the first time I was introduced to Mrs. Baby Pineda
by Atty. Pobe as Com. Garcillano’s nephew. Mrs. Pineda also asked Atty.
Pobe to write down all our names on a piece of paper. After an hour of
snack, we proceeded to PGMA’s house in La Vista with Mrs. Pineda’s car
(with Comm. Garcillano and Governor Dy of Isabela also on board) going
ahead of the two vehicles. Upon arrival at PGMA’s residence in La
Vista, we were brought to a lower level where the dinner tables had
already been arranged but we waited for 2 hours before PGMA
arrived at around 9:00 P.M.
15. After dinner, the election officials were introduced one by
one to PGMA by Mrs. Baby Pineda based on the list of names written
by Atty. Pobe at McDonald’s. Present throughout the dinner were
Comm. Garcillano and Governor Dy of Isabela. After the
introductions, PGMA gave a short talk asking the RDs and PES to
support and help her in the coming 2004 presidential elections. On
the part of the RDs and PES, they requested POMA for xerox machines
for use in the elections to be sent to Atty. Pobe who would take care of
having these machines sent to their assigned areas. When the request for
vehicles was also mentioned by some Mindanao election officials, Mrs.
Pineda immediately said she would be taking care of the matter.
16. Shortly thereafter, PGMA bade us goodbye because she
said she still had another engagement. As we were leaving, Mrs.
Pineda gave RD Johnny Icaro of Region 4 white envelopes for all of
us. When we opened them in the vehicles, we found that each
envelope contained P30,000.
17. On 13 February 2004, Comm. Garcillano asked me to call
Mrs. Baby Pineda for me to get the cellular phone she was giving him
from her house in Greenhills. When I got to her house, the personal
secretary of Mrs. Pineda handed to me the cell phone contained in a box
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