Senate probe on Hanjin hit by 'no shows'

There appears to be a conscious effort to put a close to the bribery-extortion chapter in the book of violations allegedly committed by Korean company Hanjin Heavy Industries Inc.

Key personalities were no shows at the resumption of the Senate investigation on the company’s shipyard projects in Misamis Oriental and Zambales.

During a joint hearing of the Blue Ribbon Committee and Committee on Environment, police investigators also asserted “there was no bribery” on the strength of the testimony they got from Mayor Paulino Emano of Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental.

Emano instead sent an affidavit clarifying his remarks earlier that a Hanjin official sought to bribe him with a P400 million contract, in exchange for allowing the diversion of a river to provide for Hanjin’s construction needs. Emano later retracted his statement after meeting with President Arroyo.

“Our conclusion was that there was no bribery,” Police Director Jefferson Soriano of Task Force Tagovill told senators in the hearing.

On the counter-accusation that Emano and Villanueva, Misamis Oriental Mayor Juliette Uy tried to extort money from Hanjin, Soriano said they were still “in the process of further investigating the matter.”

Uy also begged off from attending the hearing, saying her denial of the bribery and extortion issues had already been amply reported in media.

Blue Ribbon Committee chairman Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, however, took issue with the police’s apparent disinterest in pursuing the bribery issue.

“Just because somebody said there was no bribery doesn’t mean there was no bribery,” he pointed out. “When you’re telling a mayor ‘may 400 million peso contract dito,’ there’s a very thin line.”

Senate environment committee chairperson Sen. Pia Cayetano also noted the laxity of the police’s investigating procedures after Soriano admitted they did not talk to Choi Guk Hyun, Hanjin’s project manager who allegedly made the bribe offer to Emano.

“Then that may be the problem in this investigation. Is it your policy not to speak directly to the people involved?” Cayetano asked Soriano.

Also a no-show at the hearing was Hanjin president Shim Jeong Sup, who said he had a previous engagement.

Korean Chamber of Commerce President Jae Jung Jang, however, took up the cudgels for Hanjin as he said the controversy arose due to “miscommunication” because of the language barrier.

On the matter of Hanjin’s alleged violation of environmental laws in connection with its shipyard projects in Misamis Oriental and Subic Bay in Zambales, Cayetano said the ball is now in the hands of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), whether it would impose sanctions on Hanjin for failing to secure environmental compliance certificates prior to beginning construction.

“We are waiting for DENR to take a firm hand. It’s DENR’s call,” she said.

Cayetano warned, however, that should DENR fail to act on Hanjin’s alleged violations, DENR officials could also be held liable.

“When a government official tolerates non-compliance with any law, they can be penalized for dereliction of duty,” Cayetano said. BY LYNDA JUMILLA ABS-CBN News