No basis to charge Erap for using alias, says SC

MANILA, Philippines – There is no basis to charge deposed President Joseph Estrada for illegal use of an alias, the Supreme Court said in upholding the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan's decision on the case. The anti-graft court had dismissed the “illegal use of alias" case against the former president. In a 28-page ruling penned by Associate Justice Arturo Brion, the SC said the use of alias is illegal only if it is “public and habitual" – under Commonwealth Act 142 as amended by Republic Act (RA) 6085. In Estrada’s case, the high court said that the supposed use of the alias “Jose Velarde" was only used in a numbered trust account considered a private transaction. “Estrada did not publicly use the alias ‘Jose Velarde,’" the SC ruling states. “In the case of Estrada, all of his representations as ‘Jose Velarde’ were made in privacy and in secrecy. The presence of bank officers, his chief of staff Aphrodicion Lacquian, and lawyer friend Fernando Chua when the alias was used does not indicate his intention to be publicly known as ‘Jose Velarde,’" the SC decision added. The SC likewise noted that the “Jose Velarde" account was created before the enactment of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (RA 9160), which forbids the creation of anonymous accounts and accounts under fictitious names. The high court, however, said that its ruling only decided on the question whether Estrada should be charged for illegal use of alias, and not on the legality of using an alias. “We do not decide here whether Estrada’s use of an alias when he occupied the highest executive position in the land was valid and legal; we simply determined whether he may be liable for the offense charged based on the evidence the People (complainants) presented," it said. - With Carlo Lorenzo, GMANews.TV