First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo welcomes the World Bank?s admission of having no evidence to link him directly to any alleged rigging of road projects, his counsel said yesterday.

Lawyer Ruy Rondain said the bank?s clarification should put the controversy to rest.

?He is very happy because this only validates what we?ve been saying, there is no evidence against him. This is a clear vindication for him,? he said in a press conference at the Lourdes T. Arroyo building in Makati City, where Arroyo holds office.

Senate Majority Floor Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri last week said WB officials refused to authenticate documents allegedly mentioning the names of Arroyo and other personalities.

Zubiri met the media after attending a briefing on the WB report at the Senate on Feb. 24.

Rondain also distributed copies of affidavit of the president of the construction firm RD Policarpio & Co. Inc. who was among the witnesses mentioned in the WB report.

Noblito Policarpio said he neither knew Arroyo that well nor implicated him in any irregularity in government projects.

Meanwhile, Rondain said he would file a petition for review before the Supreme Court over the ruling of the appellate court that allowed the Makati City Regional Trial Court to hear the P487.5-million class suit filed by media practitioners against Arroyo.

?The court could not proceed with the amended complaint since it has not acquired jurisdiction over the original [complaint] since the journalists did not pay the required filing fee,? he said.

?I do not know Mr. Mike Arroyo personally. I have never met him in person although I, of course, admitted to them that I know him to be the First Gentleman being the husband of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,? Policarpio said in a six-page affidavit he signed on Feb. 24 in Washington D.C., and authenticated by Consul General Domingo Nolasco at the Philippine Embassy.

?I never mentioned anything about any involvement of Mr. Arroyo in government contracts or in placing officials in positions. I could not have said this since I never had any transaction with him,? he said.

Policarpio recounted that in 2006, he received a phone call from people identifying themselves as WB representatives and that they were gathering data about certain WB-funded projects.

He said he granted an interview to three male Caucasians whose names he could no longer remember.

?The interview was rather informal. It was not recorded. As far as I can recall they did not ask permission that it will be recorded and I did not see any tape recorder nor was there any secretary or stenographer taking down notes,? Policarpio said.

He said he remembered being asked about the possible involvement of politicians in the awarding of contracts to which he replied that that was the general impression prevailing in the Philippines.

?I told them that is not based on my personal knowledge but on what is talked about in the business circle and what we read in the newspapers,? Policarpio added. Ferdinand Fabella