TWO senators were quick to dismiss the alleged link between an engineering contractor blacklisted by the World Bank and First Gentleman Juan Miguel Arroyo as a House of Representatives panel said there was no evidence of rigging the bids for a road improvement project.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chairman of the committee on economic affairs, rejected the allegation of Senator Panfilo Lacson that Eduardo de Luna, owner of one of three blacklisted construction firms, was able to secure major public works contracts due to his ?closeness? to the First Gentleman.

?It?s hearsay at the moment,? the Senate president told newsmen. ?There is no evidence that the money was for the First Gentleman. It was denied by De Luna.?

Lacson claimed that De Luna personally delivered P70 million cash contained in a carton box to the presidential spouse at the LTA Building sometime in 2004.

Santiago said the supposed appointment book of the First Gentleman purportedly containing entries on Mr. Arroyo?s meetings with De Luna should first be authenticated as a genuine or original document. ?He [Lacson] needs [to present] an eyewitness. Otherwise, that has no probative value.?

Lacson said his witness and informant is one of the persons who saw De Luna carrying the boxful of money inside the LTA Building in Makati City.

But he said he was not sure whether he can convince the witness to testify. ?It would be very difficult for the witness to come out into the open because of the risks,? Lacson said.

At the House of Representatives, committee on public works chairman Rep. Roger Mercado (Southern Leyte) said the panel did not find any evidence that would support allegations of rigging the bid for a World Bank-assisted package.

The World Bank had earlier blacklisted local firm E.C. De Luna Construction Corp., owned by Eduardo de Luna, and barred two other Filipino companies?Cavite Ideal International Construction and Development Corp. and CM Pancho Construction Inc,?for participating in WB-assisted projects for years. Fel V. Maragay, Roderick T. dela Cruz, Roy Pelovello