FBI tried to arrest First Gentleman Mike Arroyo?

Sometime August, a group of Federal Bureau of Investigation agents purportedly belonging to the anti-terror division visited the Philippines. Their mission is simple--trace the flow of"hot money". Their plan? Investigate the flow of hot or laundered money from known terrorists to their fronts in the Philippines. Since 2000, the Philippines has been the easy conduit of terrorist funds. Global funds go thru the Philippines and into other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. IN fact, there are some talks that funding for the Mumbai attacks actually emanated from the Philippines. How true? We don't exactly know. Possible? Yes, highly likely.

Now, reportedly during their probe, they included top officials of the Arroyo administration. Allegedly, they probed one suspicious account of a very close associate of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's husband, Mike Arroyo. This very close associate is known as a hot-shot big-time operator. When they investigated his account, the group eventually found a supposed "link" to the First Gentleman.

Things unfolded and reportedly, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) established a very strong case of anti-money laundering against First Gentleman Mike Arroyo. Now, if you ask, is it legal for the US government to file charges of money laundering against Mike Arroyo? Yes, they can do that. They did it with the dictator General Noriega. The crime of money laundering is not only local or parochial--it is also deemed an international crime, given that it is being used as a way for terrorists to fund their illegal activities.

As Manila Standard Today columnist Tony Abaya and Daily Tribune's Lito Banayo wrote a few days ago, this is the reason why the plane carrying the Presidential entourage going to Peru suddenly U-turned, purportedly due to diarrhea suffered by the First Gentleman. Under normal circumstances, the plane could have landed in Hawaii, the nearest place for that PAL flight no. 001 to have landed, according to the standard operating procedure for emergency cases. Since Hawaii or the Marshall Islands belong to the US territory, Abaya and Banayo said that reportedly the First Couple requested that the plane go in the opposite direction--Japan--a full 3 hours extra.

Going back to the First Gentleman's alleged FBI case--is it plausible? Yes, a crime, if committed, could be prosecuted by the US if, for example, some funds were "parked" in US banks. FBI sources say, this is the case.

Talks also indicated that some FBI and CIA probe teams have allegedly talked with the former wife of Iggy Arroyo who fled the country after her bitter fight with the Congressman. Reportedly, Iggy's wife brought billions of pesos in the Jose Pidal account away from the Philippines. How true? Well, circumstantial evidence points to a "hurried" flight to Europe by the estranged wife who reportedly took revenge against Iggy because the Congressman allegedly maul his wife to near death. How true? Well, politicians get intrigues left and right.

What's so significant about this? Well, this presents a very strong evidence of corruption against the First Family, if this is true. Second, this shows a very weak spot in the First Family's armor of defense. This case, I believe, shows how vulnerable the First Couple is right now that this regime could be on the verge of collapse. Remember that before the Marcos regime crumbled, the Marcos family was first subjected to subtle yet strong attacks from the US government. If this is true, then, this bolsters talks about the obviously very weak or softening support of the US State department in the Arroyo regime.

Now, as I said, to defeat the Arroyo regime, groups must first slowly attack its armour of invincibility. This case is, I believe, if proved true, could be the one that would lead to the eventual collapse and disintegration of this regime. No amount of publicity from the return of Pacquiao would prevent or deter forces from finally ousting Gloria Arroyo.