MANILA - Philrem Services Corp. President Salud Bautista was put on the hot seat in the continuation of the Senate investigation into the $81-million money laundering scandal, on Tuesday, after her husband and their company's messenger failed to appear for supposedly being ill.

Bautista arrived late for the hearing and without her husband, Michael "Concon" Bautista, who is treasurer of Philrem.

"I'm sorry for being late. I just came from the hospital. I had to attend to my husband... He has an acute stomach pain. I had to talk to the doctor," she explained.

Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chairman Teofisto "TG" Guingona III then took notice of the absence of Mark Palmares, the messenger of the remittance company. Palmares also failed to attend last week's hearing because he was reportedly sick.

"Where's your messenger? He also has stomach pains?" Guingona asked Bautista.

"No," answered Bautista. "Our messenger is not feeling well. But I have his affidavit with me."

This did not sit well with Guingona, who pointed out that the reason why the Senate panel only issued another invitation and not a subpoena for Palmares was because Bautista had committed during last Tuesday's hearing that they will produce him at the probe.

"So, every hearing, he will not be felling well?" quipped an irate Guingona. "You really give us this feeling of evasion. A messenger not feeling well once during a hearing, maybe. But this is another hearing, one week apart, and still your messenger is not feeling well again."

Senator Bam Aquino later recommended that the Senate committee send a subpoena to Palmares, and an invitation to Atty. Renato de Jesus, the lawyer who signed the messenger's affidavit, to confirm if Palmares did file the document himself.

"Alam mo, feeling ko niloloko niyo kami eh, to put it bluntly... Frankly, I feel you're hiding something, and your credibility is very, very low. I'm warning you," Guingona told Bautista.

Palmares was invited to the investigation to shed light on the conflicting statements between the Bautista couple and casino junket operator Kim Wong regarding the cash deliveries in the $81-million money laundering transaction.

The Bautistas and Wong have contradicted each other about the amounts involved in the transactions, the presence of Wong during the deliveries, and the whereabouts of $17 million.

Palmares was said to be present during several of the cash deliveries by Philrem to an alleged casino junket agent Weikang Xu.

READ: Kim Wong, Philrem contradict each other on cash deliveries

During today's hearing, Bautista maintained that they do not have the "missing" $17 million, as claimed by Wong. She said they delivered all $30 million in cash -- in the amounts of P600 million and $18 million -- to Xu, a business associate of Wong.

She also denied hiding any information before the Senate inquiry despite failing to mention during the first hearing the presence of Wong in some of the cash deliveries to Xu.

"I'm sorry if that's how you feel. I'm really not hiding any information... Wala po kaming kulang na binigay. Lahat po binigay kay Weikang Xu," she said.

PHILREM TO RETURN MORE MONEY?

The remittance firm, which converted into pesos most of the $81 million allegedly stolen by hackers from the central bank of Bangladesh, earlier said it will return every centavo it earned from the series of transactions in question.

Bautista had said Philrem will issue to the Bangladesh government a check worth P10,474,654.

READ: Philrem to return P10M to Bangladesh

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Bangladesh Ambassador to the Philippines John Gomes said he received information that Philrem will return more than the P10 million it had promised.

"We have learned that they have agreed to return a certain amount [aside from that]," said Gomes.

"We have come to know that they are returning it to AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council). The amount, I'm not really sure. But we will know maybe today or tomorrow... Let's wait until we get the exact figure," he added.