ESTRADA LAWYERS GO TO SC OVER SON’S BANK ACCOUNT. Lawyers of deposed President Joseph Estrada are going to the Supreme Court to stop state prosecutors from presenting his son's bank account as additional evidence in his plunder case.
The Sandiganbayan gave them up to March 24 to secure a temporary restraining order from the high tribunal in their last-ditch bid to prevent the opening of the Urban Bank account of San Juan Mayor Joseph Victor "JV" Ejercito. Estrada lawyers told the justices of their plan to seek a TRO from the SC in Thursday's hearing wherein prosecutors were supposed to present witnesses on the Ejercito account. This was after the Sandiganbayan on Wednesday affirmed its Feb. 10 ruling that allowed the account's opening.
Prosecutors allege that the Ejercito account in the now defunct Urban Bank was the source of seven checks worth 182 million pesos that went into the infamous "Jose Velarde" account. Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo said the deposits support the allegation that the Velarde account belonged to the elder Estrada and not to his crony Jaime Dichaves as claimed by the defense. He said this is the reason why the defense panel is exhausting all means to prevent exposing this particular money trail in court.
Estrada lawyers argue that dragging Ejercito's account into the plunder trial would violate the Bank Secrecy Law, especially since the San Juan Mayor is not accused in the case.
Source: Philippines Daily Inquirer, 14 March 2003
SANDIGANBAYAN ALLOWS ‘BORACAY’ INSPECTION. Government prosecutors were given yesterday the go-signal to inspect the so-called "Boracay" mansion in New Manila in Quezon City, which they said was acquired by ousted President Joseph Estrada with ill-gotten money.
In the morning of March 21, prosecutors and defense lawyers, along with Justices Minita Chico-Nazario, Edilberto Sandoval and Teresita Leonardo de Guzman of the Sandiganbayan will check the condition of the mansion. Photographs and video footage of the interiors will be taken.
The anti-graft court’s special division rejected as a "narrow and restrictive interpretation of the information" the defense argument that the P142-million property was not stated in the charge sheet. The justices hearing the plunder case – Nazario, Sandoval and De Guzman – said they are in a quandary as to why defense lawyers, led by retired Sandiganbayan presiding justice Manuel Pamaran, were blocking the prosecution’s motion to inspect the mansion if they claim it is not owned by Estrada.
Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa Ignacio told the special division the mansion must be inspected to check whether the property had been abandoned. The prosecution has alleged that the P142 million used to buy "Boracay" had come from the P3.2 billion deposited in the controversial "Jose Velarde" account at Equitable PCI Bank. However, Pamaran and the other defense lawyers said the prosecutors are "publicity seekers" who would actually do more harm than good and reopen old wounds.
Source: Philippine Star, 12 March 2003
ESTRADA CAN’T BE GRANTED BAIL. Ousted President Joseph Estrada, unlike his son Jinggoy, may not be granted bail by the Sandiganbayan, Sen. Joker Arroyo said yesterday.
Arroyo said the anti-graft court is now about half-way into Estrada’s trial and most of the evidence against him has been introduced by the prosecution. He said by this time, the court should be able to assess whether the evidence against the former president can justify his release on bail.
Arroyo said one way for Estrada to be able to win bail is to mobilize his allies and sympathizers in Congress, of which he has many, to lobby for the enactment of bills abolishing the death penalty. He said if such bills are enacted, crimes that carry the death penalty like plunder will carry the maximum punishment of life imprisonment. As for the abolition of the death penalty, Arroyo said it would be a good law.
Source: Philippine Star, 10 March 2003
ESTRADA SON GRANTED 500,000-PESO BAIL. The Sandiganbayan anti-graft court on Thursday allowed Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada to post bail, after it ruled that the former San Juan mayor probably collected "jueteng" protection money but only for his "own selfish needs" and not in "conspiracy" with his father, deposed president Joseph Estrada.
The young Estrada is expected to post the 500,000-peso bail money Friday, as the court order was issued shortly before the close of office hours Thursday. Reached on the phone, the younger Estrada said he had "mixed feelings" about the good news, which he and his father first learned through TV reports. The former president said his first reaction was to embrace his son, his eldest child by opposition senator Luisa "Loi" Ejercito. He said he also gave thanks to God "that the court had been enlightened." The Sandiganbayan also justified the grant of bail by saying that the ex-mayor was not a "flight risk."
In its 31-page decision, the court said state prosecutors engaged in mere "speculation" in alleging that the Estradas connived in collecting protection money from operators of jueteng, an illegal numbers game, from August 1998 to October 2000.
Source: Philippines Daily Inquirer, 7 March 2003