'ERNIE' GAVE P10T?

"I will not only be creating ripples, but waves."

So said lawyer Gines Abellana on allegations he was among those who tried
to bribe Assistant City Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro in relation to the
anti-drug case against suspected Hong Kong triad operative Giovannie
"Nanan" Gimenez.

Abellana appeared before Ombudsman prosecutor Estela Alma Singco yesterday
to answer questions about his supposed participation in the bribery attempt
that placed the entire Office of the City Prosecutor in the limelight of
controversy for weeks.

He denied being a party to the supposed bribery, saying he does not even
represent Gimenez or any of his relatives.

He said, though, that if the payoff report was real, it could have been
made by one "Ernie."

Abellana's reference to making waves against Castro's ripple meant his
intent to take action against the lady prosecutor.

Castro earlier exposed what she said was a P10,000 bribe attempt on her by
the Gimenez camp. Abellana, she alleged, left the money in her office.

She said she made the expose because she could no longer take what the
defense, represented by lawyer Pedro Leslie Salva, was doing to the case.

"A stone, no matter how small, if dropped into the middle of a pond, will
always make a ripple," she once said.

Abellana did not say how he intends to get back at Castro but asked that he
be given a copy of the findings the anti-graft office will issue in
relation the inquiry.

He denied he was in Castro's office last Jan. 25, the day the supposed
envelope containing the P10,000 bribe money was allegedly left on Castro's
table.

He said a certain Ernie might have given the money.

Abellana narrated that two or three days before the supposed bribe attempt,
he had helped out a guy who wanted to be introduced to the lady prosecutor.

He said he met the guy at the Palace of Justice lobby.

Abellana said he decided to help out because he was asked by a policeman
from Minglanilla, who was also his relative. The man had first approached
the policeman, Toto Navarro.

He revealed that since he was on his way to the Office of the City
Prosecutor, he asked the guy to tag along until they, by chance, met Castro
at the hallway leading to the office.

He said he left the two alone.

Abellana said that last Jan. 28, a man who introduced himself as Ernie
called him up through his cellular phone and said Castro wanted to talk to him.

He said he declined the request since he was attending the wedding of a
nephew and was a sponsor during the event.

Abellana believes that the man he helped see Castro must be the same person
who called him up, although he is not sure about this.

He said he was later surprised to find out that he had been impleaded in
the bribery yarn, which came out in the newspapers last Jan. 29.

He said he tried to ask Castro about the issue during the meeting
facilitated by City Prosecutor Jose Pedrosa last Jan. 29, but Castro did
not say anything.

Abellana said he has not found time to confront Castro about the issue
again, but that he intends to.

He believes that Castro dragged his name into the issue to get media
mileage for a promotion.