MANILA, Philippines - A few hours after General (retired) Florencio Fianza arrived from a three-week sojourn in the United States, he received a phone call from a Malacañang official inquiring if the newly-relieved chairman of the Philippine Racing Commission would accept another assignment. Fianza, according to a source, did not outrightly reject the offer. But two days later, he did.

Why? A source close to Fianza said the general did not give an explanation, except to say that whatever his decison, ?the President knows.?

Who is Fianza and why does he presume that ?the President knows? what?s on his mind?

Far from having any romantic connection between them, the source said that Ms Arroyo and Fianza?s friendship ?dates back to the mid ?90s when the general helped found Kampi.? The Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino is a political party that Arroyo and supporters founded to be used for her presidential bid in 1998.

In 1996, Fianza was then chief of the Northern Police District when he met a group that was ?scouting? for a candidate to support in the 1998 presidential election. The conversation shifted to action when he met Ms Arroyo?s late mother, the former First Lady Eva Macapagal. The small discussion group got bigger. But money matters, personality differences and diverging interests would soon wrack the party. Though Ms Arroyo did not run for president in 1998, she eventually became President in January 2001 and Fianza stuck with her.

With his perceived closeness to the President, many thought Fianza would win his war with the Metropolitan Association of Racehorse Owners (Marho), the Philippine Thoroughbred Association (Philtobo) and the Klub Don Juan de Manila, the horseowners? groups that wanted him out for alleged incompetence and ignorance of the game.

He denied this. ?I may not know horses but I know gambling. And horse racing is gambling,? Gambling, he added, is never a saintly industry. ?It?s a bad industry, with many very bad people.?

Fianza was named acting chair of the PRC in May 2006. He admitted he was reluctant to accept the PRC job, but relented on the thought that ?maybe the President wants me to do something,? he said.

According to him, horseracing generates revenues of up to P9 billion annually. ?Unofficially, it?s P34 to 35 billion, if we include the illegal, underground bookies,? he said.

Trouble erupted when Fianza said he wanted to put a stop to the ?handicapping? system. He explained: ?A horse that has reached a certain level, like Grade 6 in elementary, should not be allowed to be downgraded. But that is happening. Horses in the high category are being made to lose intentionally so they can be downgraded and race against horses of lower category.?

He mused: ?Horseracing is a game of kings. It?s supposed to be fun. You race your horse for the excitement of seeing it win the prize money. But the problem is that 90 percent of the horseowners also bet, and they bet big!?

Continued Fianza: ?This is not a poor man?s sport. But who are the bettors? Taxi drivers, jeepney drivers, poor people. Ordinary bettors who don?t know that the game is being manipulated.? His mandate, he said, is ?to clean the industry and protect the interest of the betting public.?

Commissioned with the rank of second lieutenant in 1969, Fianza served as attache at the Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. from 1983 to 1985. His string of degrees from local and international colleges include a Masters degree in Engineering Science from the University of South Wales in Sydney, Australia, specializing in Transport/Highways and Traffic Management. This expertise landed him the job of executive director for traffic of the Metro Manila Development Authority from 1997 to 1999.

Though not a ?regular? officer who stayed mostly in the field wearing the uniform, Fianza has served the civilian sector and has cultivated friendships with politicians, like President Arroyo, that incurred the suspicion of other sectors.

One rumor alleges that following the May 2004 elections, Fianza became part of the ?cheating machinery? that ensured Ms Arroyo?s victory over movie actor Fernando Poe Jr. Asked about this, Fianza gave a short answer: ?The President knows, she knows.?

While he?d rather keep some things a secret, Fianza also shares some of them: in 1999, he was sacked by then PNP chief Panfilo Lacson allegedly for playing golf during office hours. Clarified Fianza: It was December 27 and he was playing golf with, he said emphatically, ?Mr. and Mrs. Arroyo.?