t is indeed a rare and fascinating occurrence when an arrogant Filipino politician is humbled before the law. Unfortunately, in the Philippines, where justice is routinely sold to the highest bidder, such events rarely ever happen. But as luck would have it, US courts unlike their Philippine counterparts, still believe no one is above the law. Thus Panfilo Lacson, who years before had brazenly told Blanquita Pelaez that she would never see a cent of her commission unless she, in essence, lied for him, was forced to eat his words and cough up the $37,000.00 dollars due her.

How did Ping come up with the court-ordered cash? A previously unheard-of association called Filipino-Americans for Panfilo Lacson (FA4PL) had a fund-raising dinner and in a single night raked-in all of the money asked by the court. Filipino-Americans in the Bay Area--where the fundraiser was held--found it surprising that someone like Lacson, who has almost no following in the Fil-Am community, would have enough supporters with the wherewithal to rise that kind of money from a single night's event!

If indeed Lacson felt he was right to withhold the amount now demanded by the court from Ms. Pelaez in order to pay for the customs duties of the transaction, then why wouldn't he want to argue that point in Judge Miller's court? Why wouldn't he want to make it known to the judge and to the whole world that he was only looking after the interest of the Philippine Government. $37,000.00 dollars is after all, a lot of money in a third-world economy. Instead he chose not to. He chose not to because he knew that if he showed his face in that court, he would be jumping from the frying pan into the fire!

Who knows what else Blanquita's lawyer Rodel Rodis would have asked him under oath? Well, Ping had a pretty good idea of what Attorney Rodis was going to ask because Rodis published some of those questions a week before in the newspaper. Among the many questions Ping would have had to answer were:

"When he purchased his home at 1011 Laguna Seca Loop in Chula Vista, California on March 1, 1996, where did he get the money to buy it? When he sold it on July 20, 1999, where did he deposit the money? Did he then buy the property at 2305 Sea Island Place in Chula Vista? What other properties did he purchase?"

In April 22, 1996, Lacson's two bank accounts at Bank of America in Chula Vista (17471-00188 & 17478-00046) totaled $104,793.26. In October of that year their total balance had risen to 178,544.88! As chief of deposed President Estrada's infamous Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force--with it's silly-sounding acronym, PAOCTF (pronounced: paa-oak-tee-eff). "What was his salary then? After he closed those two bank accounts, where did he transfer those funds to?"

"On November 13, 2000, Lacson remitted $100,000 to his wife Alice at her Bank of America, Woodman Sherman branch account in Van Nuys, California through the Bank of New York. Two days later, on November 15, the amount of $49,980 was sent by Teresita Go to the same BofA account through HSBC New York. On November 27, $149,980 was remitted again through HSBC NY. On December 26 (the day after Christmas), another $144,339.62 was remitted to that same account this time through the Bank of New York." Where was all this money coming from?

These were just the a few of the questions Rodis would have wanted Lacson to answer. And in light of the paper-trail left by all these large-dollar transactions that had been occurring since the mid-1990's, it is almost inconceivable that Ping would have walked into Judge Miller's courtroom on his own volition. The risk for him was just too great.

And now in a separate development, his chief henchman during his stint as head of the PAOCTC, Michael Rey Aquino has just been apprehended in New York by the FBI for spying against the United States. Maybe we'll be get some questions answered after all. Unfortunately for Ping, this incident also raises a lot of new questions. Either way, Panfilo Lacson's political career may soon to be over!

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