ANGELES CITY- Internationally renowned architect Felino Palafox Jr. said yesterday he would rather be jailed in connection with the libel charges filed against him amid his claim of corruption in the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).
In a telephone interview with Punto, Palafox, founder and managing partner of Palafox Associates, said he has already donated to a religious group the P10,000 bail he expected to be imposed on him by the Olongapo City court for his temporary liberty. The court slated to issue a warrant of arrest against him anytime.
“I have practiced my profession in 54 countries where I have become respected. It is a lament that I am being persecuted in my very own country in my struggle for truth,” said Palafox, who is also a ranking officer of the American Chamber of Commerce, the American Planning Organization and the Makati Business Club.
“Now I am willing to sacrifice my career, person and even my life,” he said, citing death threats he had received after he made public his allegations on the demand for grease money by an official of the SBMA, whose name he has so far not disclosed, over a $1-billion casino project he later junked at Subic freeport.
Palafox said that after designing skyscrapers for the world’s biggest capital cities, he is prepared to design more livable jails once he joins inmates after his arrest.
Earlier, Olongapo City prosecutor Melanie Fay Tadili Benarez found probable cause for citing Palafox for libel amid the latter’s claim that a member of the bids and awards committee of the SBMA demanded from him 18 percent of the total project cost of the Subic Bay Freeport Comprehensive Master Plan Project for his company to be included in the short list of bidders for Subic projects, including a $1-billion casino.
Palafox said that in the first place, he was against the casino project to save some 366 trees in the forested project site.
The libel case was filed by members of the SBMA bids and awards committee including lawyers Ferdinand Hernandez, Ramon Agregado, Ruel John Kabigting and Von Rodriguez, engineers Marcelino Sanqin and Amethya Koval who said that Palafox’s claim subjected them to “to public ridicule and contempt.” They based their complaint on Palafox’s statement published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer in December last year.
The Olongapo prosecutor noted that Palafox failed to file a counter affidavit against the complaint. The arrest warrant against him is expected to be out after his case is raffled off to a judge in the Olongapo regional trial court.
Palafox decried the case as “harassment”, noting the “speed and agility” of the prosecutors to decide on his libel case.
He noted that initially, he had petitioned the Department of Justice (DOJ) to transfer the venue of his case to either Makati or Quezon City because the paper which published the articles in question was based in Makati and that his interview was done in his Makati office. He also said that television stations which aired his allegations were also located in Quezon City.
“I hope it’s not true that some king of mafia within the SBMA and Olongapo has come out with a P50-million fund to destroy and persecute me,” he said.
In a telephone interview, Palafox’s lawyer Bien Salinas admitted the failure of Palafox’s camp to file a counter-affidavit in the libel case.
“I think there was some confusion then among the volunteer lawyers, but there was the intent to file a counter affidavit. Also there was the request to transfer venue for the case, but it was overtaken by the deadline for the filing of a counter affidavit,” he said.
Salinas echoed Palafox’s claim that the libel case was sheer harassment. “It’s really a harassment case. It’s discriminatory. How come he is the only one charged and not anyone in the newspaper where the article was published?” he asked, naming two columnists of the newspaper who, he noted, had also written extensively on the alleged anomalies in the SBMA.
The Olongapo prosecutor noted in her resolution that on Dec. 3, 2008, the complainants requested Palafox to either name the alleged extortionist he mentioned in the published article or issue a public apology.
It noted that Palafox, in his letter-reply to SBMA dated Dec. 12, 2008, said that he had no personal information on the alleged extortion try and that he merely picked up the information from a third party.
The prosecutor also noted that despite this admission, Palafox reiterated his accusation against members of the bids and awards committee in radio interview with former senator Joey Lina on Dec. 7 last year.
“This…all the more indicated and confirmed his malice,” the resolution said.
Palafox said he donated P10,000 estimated cost of his bail to the Christ the King Seminary of the Societas Verbi Divini (SVD) priests where he was once a seminarian.
“That was where I learned the values of honesty, integrity, prayer, love of God, country and planet earth,” he said.
Palafox also expressed belief that only one percent of the Filipino population is corrupt. “But then, one percent of our population means about 900,000 Filipinos are corrupt. We must not allow them to take over our lives,” he added.
In a telephone interview with Punto, Palafox, founder and managing partner of Palafox Associates, said he has already donated to a religious group the P10,000 bail he expected to be imposed on him by the Olongapo City court for his temporary liberty. The court slated to issue a warrant of arrest against him anytime.
“I have practiced my profession in 54 countries where I have become respected. It is a lament that I am being persecuted in my very own country in my struggle for truth,” said Palafox, who is also a ranking officer of the American Chamber of Commerce, the American Planning Organization and the Makati Business Club.
“Now I am willing to sacrifice my career, person and even my life,” he said, citing death threats he had received after he made public his allegations on the demand for grease money by an official of the SBMA, whose name he has so far not disclosed, over a $1-billion casino project he later junked at Subic freeport.
Palafox said that after designing skyscrapers for the world’s biggest capital cities, he is prepared to design more livable jails once he joins inmates after his arrest.
Earlier, Olongapo City prosecutor Melanie Fay Tadili Benarez found probable cause for citing Palafox for libel amid the latter’s claim that a member of the bids and awards committee of the SBMA demanded from him 18 percent of the total project cost of the Subic Bay Freeport Comprehensive Master Plan Project for his company to be included in the short list of bidders for Subic projects, including a $1-billion casino.
Palafox said that in the first place, he was against the casino project to save some 366 trees in the forested project site.
The libel case was filed by members of the SBMA bids and awards committee including lawyers Ferdinand Hernandez, Ramon Agregado, Ruel John Kabigting and Von Rodriguez, engineers Marcelino Sanqin and Amethya Koval who said that Palafox’s claim subjected them to “to public ridicule and contempt.” They based their complaint on Palafox’s statement published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer in December last year.
The Olongapo prosecutor noted that Palafox failed to file a counter affidavit against the complaint. The arrest warrant against him is expected to be out after his case is raffled off to a judge in the Olongapo regional trial court.
Palafox decried the case as “harassment”, noting the “speed and agility” of the prosecutors to decide on his libel case.
He noted that initially, he had petitioned the Department of Justice (DOJ) to transfer the venue of his case to either Makati or Quezon City because the paper which published the articles in question was based in Makati and that his interview was done in his Makati office. He also said that television stations which aired his allegations were also located in Quezon City.
“I hope it’s not true that some king of mafia within the SBMA and Olongapo has come out with a P50-million fund to destroy and persecute me,” he said.
In a telephone interview, Palafox’s lawyer Bien Salinas admitted the failure of Palafox’s camp to file a counter-affidavit in the libel case.
“I think there was some confusion then among the volunteer lawyers, but there was the intent to file a counter affidavit. Also there was the request to transfer venue for the case, but it was overtaken by the deadline for the filing of a counter affidavit,” he said.
Salinas echoed Palafox’s claim that the libel case was sheer harassment. “It’s really a harassment case. It’s discriminatory. How come he is the only one charged and not anyone in the newspaper where the article was published?” he asked, naming two columnists of the newspaper who, he noted, had also written extensively on the alleged anomalies in the SBMA.
The Olongapo prosecutor noted in her resolution that on Dec. 3, 2008, the complainants requested Palafox to either name the alleged extortionist he mentioned in the published article or issue a public apology.
It noted that Palafox, in his letter-reply to SBMA dated Dec. 12, 2008, said that he had no personal information on the alleged extortion try and that he merely picked up the information from a third party.
The prosecutor also noted that despite this admission, Palafox reiterated his accusation against members of the bids and awards committee in radio interview with former senator Joey Lina on Dec. 7 last year.
“This…all the more indicated and confirmed his malice,” the resolution said.
Palafox said he donated P10,000 estimated cost of his bail to the Christ the King Seminary of the Societas Verbi Divini (SVD) priests where he was once a seminarian.
“That was where I learned the values of honesty, integrity, prayer, love of God, country and planet earth,” he said.
Palafox also expressed belief that only one percent of the Filipino population is corrupt. “But then, one percent of our population means about 900,000 Filipinos are corrupt. We must not allow them to take over our lives,” he added.
