SENATE President Juan Ponce Enrile said on Sunday that the Aquino administration should declassify files of the Marcos-era National Intelligence and Security Authority (Nisa) and let the Department of Finance and the Bangko Sentral look into millions of unliquidated public funds used by Nisa to check dollar salting activities during the Marcos administration.

While Enrile welcomed the recent turnover of declassified Armed Forces intelligence reports to the Commission on Human Rights, Enrile suggested that more important information may be gleaned by opening the Nisa files on certain key projects during the martial-law years and singled out “Project Luntian.”

According to Enrile, Project Luntian was a Nisa operation where the late President Marcos authorized the use of government funds to buy dollars in the market through the so-called Binondo central bank but it never rendered a terminal report.

He said the dollars were supposed to be stashed in a secret account in Hong Kong and used as needed to strengthen the Philippine economy.

But as far as he knows, there has been no final liquidation report.

When asked in a radio interview who would be in a position to render a report, Enrile pointed to then Nisa chief, the late Gen. Fabian Ver, and then Trade Minister Roberto Ongpin, whom Enrile described as its “project officer.”

Enrile, a longtime defense minister who served as martial-law administrator until he joined the civilian-backed reformist soldiers in ousting former Marcos during the 1986 People Power Revolt, said it is time to declassify the Nisa documents, too, so the people would know what really happened during the Marcos dictatorship,

“Okay lang sa akin [i-declassify lahat] para malaman ng taumbayan ano talaga nangyari,” Enrile explained.

He recalled that tight security classification was given to the documents by the Intelligence Service, Armed Forces (Isafp) since these were intelligence information, “more so the intelligence reports gathered by Nisa.”

“Pati ako makikita nila doon, surveillance report sa akin napakakapal... kasi pinagdududahan na hindi ako tapat sa administrasyon ni Presidente Marcos,” Enrile added, saying he was placed under surveillance on orders of Ver, who assigned then Col. Igor Cepeda as the project officer in charge of the surveillance operation on him.

Asked if there was any lesson learned from the martial-law experience, Enrile demurred, saying he does not want to render an opinion on the issue and would let the people judge after reading the records. “Basahin nila lahat ng records, lahat ng pangyayari magmula ng Presidential Proclamation 1081 [which placed the entire country under martial rule in 1972], as well as general orders, letters of instruction and presidential decrees para malaman ang katotohanan.”

He said that the Nisa amassed a huge trove of files, including Project Luntian which, Enrile noted, was exclusive to Nisa. “Sa Nisa lang yoon. Tinatawag nila na Binondo central bank. Nag-utos si Presidente Marcos na bilhin lahat ng dollars at ipadadala sa isang account sa bangko sa Hong Kong at iyon ang ginagamit para suportahan ang ekonomiya ng Pilipinas.”

“Hanggang ngayon hindi pa nali-liquidate ang account na iyon [ng Project Luntian]; hindi ko alam kung sino dapat mag-accounting noon. In charge doon si Bobby Ongpin, inatasan siya ni Presidente Marcos, kasama niya si General Ver,” Enrile said, adding that Ongpin, as the one in charge of the project, could render an accounting of the funds. “Bobby Ongpin was in charge of Project Luntian, otherwise known as Binondo central bank. Siya lang ang nakakaalam ng bank account sa Hong Kong. Wala akong nalaman na accounting noon.”

But Enrile asserted that he should not be the one to unearth or raise the issue. “Hindi na ako ang mag-uungkat niyan, ang dapat mag-ungkat niyan ang Bangko Sentral, ang gobyerno. Hindi ko sinasabing may katiwalian pero may mga projects na ganyan na hindi kami kasali sa Defense Department.”

“Kasama si Ongpin, silang dalawa ni General Ver, along with the governor of the Central Bank at that time, probably the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs, but I don’t recall that the finance minister then was included in Project Luntian… Ang report niyan nasa Nisa sapagkat enforcement unit of Project Luntian was Nisa under Generl Ver, who was reporting directly to President.”

According to Enrile, even the records of the National Security Council were furnished to Nisa. “Napunta sa kanila… iyong intel production ng military, iyong intel production ng Nisa diretso sa Presidente iyon. Mas marami silang nalalaman sa katotohanan, buksan nila iyong record ng Nisa.”

“Kung binuksan nila iyong military, bakit hindi nila buksan iyong Nisa? Para malaman natin. Even I am interested in the work of Nisa because that was outside of my department,” he said. “Sinasabi ko na ngayon, Luntian was a Nisa operation and the project officer assigned by the President was then- Minister of Trade Bobby Ongpin.”