Sandigan verdict: Erap guilty of plunder, cleared of perjury

(Updated 3 a.m. Sept 13) Deposed president Joseph Estrada was sentenced Wednesday by the Sandiganbayan's Special Division to life in prison and barred from holding public office after being found guilty of the crime of plunder in a marathon six-year trial. On one of the other charges, Estrada was acquitted of perjury and the Sandiganbayan allowed him to return to his Tanay, Rizal resthouse, "until further order of this court." Witnesses said the former leader cried when he heard the verdict after a landmark trial on charges that he took bribes and kickbacks in office. The antigraft court also ordered Estrada to hand over P732.4 million worth of bank accounts and a piece of property known as the “Boracay Mansion." Estrada bought the Boracay Mansion, a property consisting of a house located at No. 100 11th Street, New Manila, Quezon City, using P142-million jueteng (numbers racket) money, the court said. Reports had it that Estrada bought the Boracay Mansion as a gift for Laarni Enriquez, a soap opera actress in the late '70s until the '80s and one of his known young mistresses. Boracay mansion is so named because the mansion’s swimming pool is surrounded by fine white sand just like the beaches of Boracay. (The Boracay Mansion was first exposed by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism in late October 2000. Then PCIJ writer Chay Florentino Hofilena wrote the story. A Tagalog tabloid, Pinoy Times founded by press freedom icon Eugenia "Eggie" Apostol, also contributed in exposing Estrada's other mansions. The Pinoy Times also got the famous Luis "Chavit" Singson’s quote in October 2000 “Patay kung patay" following his exposé on Estrada's kickbacks. - The editors) The bank deposits were P542.7 million including P200 million under the Erap Muslim Youth Foundation deposited with Equitable-PCI Bank, and the P189.7 million commission from the purchase of Belle Corporation Shares by the Social Security System and the Government Service Insurance System that ended up into the Jose Velarde account. The court acquitted the former leader on the lesser charge of perjury due to lack of evidence. "As expected, this Special Division was created to convict me," Estrada told journalists as he was led out of the courtroom. "What is important is the support of the people, and they have overwhelmingly acquitted me. This is a political decision," he said. Estrada's son, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, and lawyer Eduardo Serapio were acquitted of all charges during the 15-minute court hearing. Clad in cream-colored “barong tagalog," Estrada arrived at the Sandiganbayan court at 9:13 a.m. accompanied by his wife, former Senator Luisa ‘Loi’ Estrada, and his sons, Sen. Jose ‘Jinggoy’ Estrada, San Juan Mayor Jose Victor Ejercito, Jude Estrada and daughter Jackie Ejercito-Lopez. Estrada was also wearing a wristband with the presidential seal and a pin of the Philippine flag on the left lapel of his barong. The court session started at 9:20 a.m. and ended at 9:35 a.m. Defense lawyer Jose Flaminiano told the court that Estrada wanted only the dispositive portion of the decision. The special division clerk of court, lawyer Ma. Teresa Pabulayan, delivered the court’s verdict. She read the perjury ruling first that acquitted Estrada of the charge. Estrada’s acquittal of the perjury case did not draw any reaction from the people in the courtroom. Gambling on 'kangaroo court' When Estrada heard the court verdict finding him guilty of the plunder charges, he shook his head twice. His daughter Jackie cried, but the courtroom was generally silent. Estrada was misty-eyed as he exited the courtroom, onlookers said. Minutes later, onlookers claimed Mayor Ejercito and Estrada's third son Jude Estrada cried, too. '"This is the only forum where I could tell the Filipino people my innocence,'' a disappointed Estrada told reporters. ''That's why I took a gamble. I thought the rule of law will prevail over here. This is really a kangaroo court. This is a political decision.'' Rene Saguisag, co-lead counsel for Estrada, told the court the former President was not asking for special treatment and that if the court desires to put the deposed leader behind bars at the National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, "so be it." “President Estrada has absolutely no intention of seeking special treatment, Your Honors. Far be it from him to seek special privileges. This maybe confirmed by the convict himself," Saguisag said. The court asserted that Estrada may continue to stay at his resthouse in Tanay, Rizal, where he has been detained since October 2004. Flaminiano, another Estrada counsel, said the defense had expected the guilty verdict. "History has it that special courts were made to convict an accused," he said adding that the first case tried and convicted by a special court was Jesus Christ. Nailing Estrada Prosecutors managed to secure Estrada’s conviction in two of the four crimes that formed the former president’s indictment for plunder. The evidence of Estrada’s involvement in jueteng protection and his application of pressure on the GSIS and SSS to buy P1.88 billion worth of Belle Corp shares were each sufficient to convict him for plunder, the court held. “[The] repeated collections of jueteng money from November 1998 to August 2000 would fall within the purview of a “series" of illegal acts constituting plunder. The said series of acts, on its own, would have been sufficient to convict the principal accused. However, this Court also finds that former Pres. Estrada is criminally liable for plunder for receiving commissions from the purchase of Belle Shares," the court said. “It is unnecessary to indulge in an exposition of whether the two series of acts… proven in the course of the trial could have amounted to two counts of plunder. It would be a purely academic exercise, as the accused cannot be convicted of two offenses or two counts of plunder on the basis of a single Information," it added. Court finds Chavit's testimony credible The court acknowledged the defense contention that former Ilocos Sur Provincial Governor Luis "Chavit" Singson, prosecution’s star witness, had an axe to grind against Estrada, which led to his exposé on the former president’s involvement in jueteng. But the court argued that it cannot outright reject Singson’s testimony even if he was a biased witness. “The Court concedes that Gov. Chavit Singson did not have the purest of motives in exposing the jueteng collections which he testified were done for the benefit of former Pres. Estrada. Undoubtedly and by his own admission, he resented not being given the franchise for the Bingo Two Balls, the government sanctioned numbers game, in his home province of Ilocos Sur. He feared the demise of his political career as the said franchise was given to his political opponents," the court said. However, the court said supporting evidence bolstered the credibility of Singson’s testimony. It cited the two record books (the so-called ledgers, which during the impeachment trial were disputed by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile as simply notebooks and not documents used by accountants and auditing firms) and alleged gambling contributions, one of which was submitted by Yolanda Ricaforte, one of Estrada’s co-accused in plunder but who remains at large until now. The court virtually indicted Singson on the issue of the alleged illegal diversion of P130 million tobacco excise tax funds. Singson said he delivered the money to Estrada’s residence in San Juan in October 1998. Singson’s testimony on the tobacco excise tax funds did not convince the court. The re-enactment of the supposed delivery of the P130 million at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas where magistrates were shown that the amount would not fit in four boxes that Singson claimed. The court also said that the prosecution panel's evidence failed to connect the money to Estrada because not one of the alleged “couriers" of the money was even connected to Estrada. “Not a scintilla of evidence links Former Pres. Estrada to any of the obscure personalities who withdrew the P130 million namely, Delia Rajas, Alma Alfaro, and Eleuterio Tan and to any of the official bank documents that made possible the diversion and misappropriation of the aforesaid public funds," the court said. The court added: “In sum, the paper trail in relation to the P130 million diverted tobacco excise taxes began with Gov. Singson and ended with Atong Ang. This Court does not find the evidence sufficient to establish beyond reasonable doubt that [former] President Estrada or any member of his family had instigated and/or benefited." The testimonies of various bank officials presented by the prosecution also led the court to convict Estrada. Their testimony revealed the paper trail of the gambling money that included the P200 million that eventually found its way to the Erap Muslim Youth Foundation. “The slew of bank documents, involving mind-boggling amounts of money and authenticated by competent and credible bank officers, convinces the Court that collection of jueteng money for former Pres. Estrada indeed took place and the entries in the ledger were not manufactured by Gov. Chavit Singson," the court said. JV Ejercito’s check gave Erap away The Special Division found that seven checks containing the sum P182.76 million and traced to an Urban Bank account of his son, San Juan Mayor JV Ejercito, were solid pieces of evidence of Estrada’s ownership of the Jose Velarde account. “The evidence of the Prosecution which showed that three Urban Bank Manager’s checks for the amounts of P10.88 million, P42.72 million and P54.16 million received by JV Ejercito as well as the four Urban Bank Manager’s Checks totaling P75 million were deposited to EPCIB S/A No. 0160-62501-5 of Jose Velarde constitutes corroborative evidence that, as between former President Estrada and Dichaves, it can be inferred that JV Ejercito, being the son of FPres. Estrada, would contribute to the account of his father but not if the account were owned by Dichaves," the court said. Prosecutors said the Velarde account at one time was worth P3.2 billion but the money was withdrawn days after Estrada was ousted in January 2001 before the court can freeze his assets. The Sandiganbayan cited Estrada’s admission that he signed bank instruments as “Jose Velarde" in front of prosecution witnesses Clarissa Ocampo and Manuel Curato, former officials of Equitable-PCI Bank, as supporting evidence that he and Velarde were the same person. “The Court finds that the former President Estrada is the real and beneficial owner of EPCIB combo account C/A No. 0110-25495-4 and S/A No. 0160-62501-5 in the name of Jose Velarde. (His) admission constitutes evidence that he and Jose Velarde are one and the same person. Being a judicial admission, no proof is required and may be given in evidence against him. Being an admission against interest, it is the best evidence, which affords the greatest certainty of the facts in dispute. The rationale for the rule is based on the presumption that no man would declare anything against himself unless such declaration was true," the court explained. Another evidence that gave away Estrada was his office trustee, Baby Ortaliza. She was identified by bank officials testifying for the state as the one who handled various businesses relative to the Velarde account and the other accounts of the Estrada couple. “The evidence of the Prosecution which showed that Baby Ortaliza - a trusted person of former Pres. Estrada and who enjoyed (his and Loi Ejercito’s) confidence - transacted the various personal bank accounts of (the Estrada couple) as well as the Jose Velarde accounts, also constitutes corroborative evidence that the Jose Velarde Accounts are owned by [former President] Estrada and not by Dichaves," the court ruled. Finally, the paper trail on the purchase of the Boracay mansion revealed that the funds came from the Velarde account. The Boracay Mansion paper trail secured the prosecution’s case against Estrada. “The evidence of the Prosecution that the Boracay Mansion was purchased from funds coming from the Jose Velarde accounts is yet another corroborative evidence that proved that the Jose Velarde accounts are owned by former Pres. Estrada. The documents found in the Boracay Mansion show that the beneficial owner is former Pres. Estrada and is used by Laarni Enriquez whose relation to former Pres. Estrada was never denied," the tribunal held. 'Filipinos big loser' “The Court finds that [former president] Estrada took advantage of his official position, authority, relationship, connection and influence to unjustly enrich himself at the expense and to the damage and prejudice of the Filipino people and the Republic of the Philippines," the court said over allegations that Estrada profited from the GSIS and SSS purchases of Belle Corporation shares. Although the defense tried to argue that Estrada simply suggested to former SSS chairman Carlos Arellano and former GSIS president Federico Pascual to buy Belle shares, the court held that, “coming from an appointing power, the calls had coercive effects particularly when repeatedly made." Pascual testified that he felt that Estrada, in a later call, sounded “agitated" when he learned that he had not acted on his “suggestions" to buy Belle shares. - GMANews.TV