Lies and misleading claims in Don Pepe’s letter

This is a reaction to Don Felipe “Pepe” Pestaño’s letter daring “Tulfo’s  admirals” to come out in the open, while insinuating they might have been involved in the anomalous activities his son Phillip was about to expose (Inquirer, 11/6/12).

Retired Admiral Rex Robles has assailed both Don Pepe’s and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales’ conclusions on the case, although the flag officer in command (FOIC), Vice Admiral Alexander Pama, chooses to keep mum, refusing to stand by the truth in defense of his men from the malicious charges of murder. He has abandoned us and our beloved institution, allowing it to be tarnished with the false accusation that a Philippine Navy ship was used in transporting illegal logs and drugs worth billions of pesos as well as in shipping arms to enemies of the state.

The truth is:

1. The Senate Joint Committee Report with the finding that Phillip committed suicide was not signed by all the senators, or by then Senate President Neptali Gonzales, or by then Sen. Gloria Arroyo (who filed Senate Resolution 217 calling for a Senate inquiry into the incident). Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile signed the report but with the note: “abstain from participating in this report”;

2. The Office of the Solicitor General and the Commission on Human Rights have no investigation of the case;

3. Ombudsman Aniano Desierto never claimed or concluded that Phillip was

murdered;

4. The inspector general never concluded that the case was not a suicide case; it recommended an investigation by a competent criminal investigative agency;

5. The fabricated United Nations Human Rights Commission report was signed by an anonymous person in behalf of Ibrahim Salama, chief of the Human Rights Treaties Division.

6. Senate Resolution 900, dated Jan. 29, 2008, which Tulfo was asked to read, does not exist in the Senate archives. It was cited to mislead readers into believing a recent resolution had been passed. The first major step in processing a criminal case is the police investigation. Don Pepe circumvented this process by filing, in the Ombudsman, a grave misconduct charge arising from the murder aspect of the case. But the police concluded that his son’s case was not murder but suicide. Common sense suggest that the murder case should have been proven first before the filing of a grave misconduct charge. Nothing in our laws prevented the complainants from filing murder charges in the lower court. However, I am thanking Don Pepe for not including my wife in the conspiracy of murder as she was aboard the ship during the incident, though I am also urging him to file the case in the appropriate court.

Through all these years, Don Pepe has been engaged in spiritualism, which is a no-no in Catholic doctrine. He should ask the court to subpoena his contacted spirits to testify, considering that he failed to convince two respondents last month and another one in 2006 to turn state witnesses to lend credence to his fabricated charges.

—CAPT. RICARDO M ORDONEZ PN (Ret.) Commanding Officer BRP Bacolod City in 1995

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