By Fel V. Maragay

Senator Panfilo Lacson yesterday implicated First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo in the controversy over a World Bank-funded project.

Lacson said one of the three companies the bank had ordered debarred for collusive practices in project bidding met with Mr. Arroyo at least 20 times in 2002. Mr. Arroyo?s lawyer denied the allegation and said the senator?s information is ?inconclusive, inadmissible and incompetent evidence.?

During the Senate hearing, Lacson said one of the contractors, Eduardo de Luna of E. C. De Luna Construction, met with the First Gentleman at the LTA Building in Makati City at least 20 times in 2002. Lacson said he got hold of an appointment book indicating those meetings.

Lacson said in most of these meetings, De Luna was accompanied by Resty de Quiros, a former reporter of radio station dzRH who once served as director of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

Lacson grilled De Luna about those meetings but the contractor denied any wrongdoing. De Luna said he first met the First Gentleman when they both served as sponsors in the baptism of a common friend?s child. De Luna said he and the First Gentleman must have met at least three times.

De Luna also protested the blacklisting done by the World Bank, even as Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane assured them that they could still join the bidding for other projects for as long as they meet the requirements.

Asked by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chairman of the committee on economic affairs, whether the three contractors can still participate in projects not funded by the bank, Ebdane replied in the affirmative.

At the end of the two-hour hearing, Santiago urged President Arroyo to fire Ebdane and Finance Secretary Margarito Teves for failing to take appropriate action on the bidding irregularities.