Atong Ang admits bribing exec to avoid life sentence

To avoid a life sentence, Charlie "Atong" Ang, former ally of deposed President Joseph Estrada, on Wednesday withdrew his "not guilty plea" before the Sandiganbayan and admitted that he bribed a public official. The defense and prosecution panels, represented by Ang's lawyer Alfredo Villamor and Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio, respectively, asked the court to enter into a plea bargaining agreement. During his pre-trial, Presiding Justice Teresita de Castro read the request which showed that, "[petitioners] asked the court to approve the plea of the accused to lesser offense from plunder to corruption of a public official." The "lesser offense" sought by Ang's camp is indirect bribery under Article 212 of the Revised Penal Code. The corruption charge carries a maximum penalty of six years imprisonment compared to plunder which is punishable by a life sentence. The desired pact also bore the signatures of Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño and Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez. Under the proposed plea bargaining agreement, Ang would be able to pay back the P25 million take from the P130 million tranche by selling his home located at 18 Manansala Street in the posh Corinthian Gardens subdivision, Quezon City. "Kasama 'yan sa proposal, yung P25 million, na magbabayad siya. (That's part of the proposal, that my client pay the P25 million)," said Ang's lawyer Ruth Castelo on QTV's Balitanghali. Associate Justice Francisco Villaruz made clear to Ang in open court that his liability, in the event the court grants the plea bargaining agreement, does not end with giving back his supposed P25 million share in the P130 million tobacco excise tax diverted from Ilocos Sur in 1998. "Do you understand that you could be facing civil liabilities more than the P25 million?" he asked, to which Ang responded affirmatively. During his arraignment in December, Ang refused to enter a plea to the charge that he conspired with former president Estrada in the collection of P545 million protection money from jueteng operators and diversion of P130 million of the P200 million tobacco tax share of Ilocos Sur province in 1998. It was the court that entered a "not guilty" plea on his behalf. Ang, who was taken back to the Philippines last November 10, is a co-accused in the plunder case confronting Estrada, the latter's son Sen. Jose "Jinggoy," and lawyer Edward Serapio. Five other persons -- businessman Jaime Dichaves, Estrada's alleged auditor/accountant Yolanda Ricaforte, and Ang's employees Delia Rajas, Alma Alfaro and Eleuterio Tan -- are included in the plunder case but remain at large. Ang, an erstwhile gambling buddy of Estrada, did not tell the Sandiganbayan the identity of the official who was corrupted, dzBB radio said. Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson had earlier alleged that Ang himself withdrew the kickbacks and delivered the money to Estrada's house in North Greenhills, San Juan. The kickbacks were allegedly divided as follows: P70 million to Estrada, P20 million to his wife Sen. Luisa Ejercito, P15 million to Senator Jinggoy and P25 million to Ang. Radio station dzBB said De Castro confronted Ang and asked him if he signed the request to change the offense out of his own free will. Ang said he did it voluntarily and said the matter was explained to him thoroughly by his lawyers. Long battle Sought for comment, Villa-Ignacio said Ang's moves would mean that the government won a "complete" instead of a "partial" victory in the Estrada plunder trial, QTV reported. "He (Ang) is a very credible witness because he is an insider and his testimony is admissible in court," Villa-Ignacio said in Filipino. Later in the day, he told GMANews.TV that Ang's guilty plea on the allegations in the plunder case could convince the other accused to come out and enter a similar compromise deal with government instead of hiding for the rest of their lives. "This is a very welcome development. This means the trial is over for Erap, Jinggoy, Serapio, and Ang. We initially feared the trial for Ang would go on for another five to six years, and the Estradas might ride on it to delay the decision on their case by asking for a re-trial," Villa-Ignacio said. Legal boundaries Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, however, earlier raised doubts that Ang's statements could still be used for Estrada's case since both the prosecution and the defense have terminated their presentations of evidence. However, Ang's proposed plea bargaining agreement carried the clause that, "As a condition to the State's conformity to accused Charlie 'Atong' Ang's entering a plea of guilty to the lesser offense of Corruption of Public Officials, accused Charlie 'Atong' Ang undertakes to assist in the prosecution of, and testify, whenever proper, in cases being prosecuted by the government in which he has personal knowledge." Estrada's counsel Jose Flaminiano on Wednesday requested the court that the defense panel be allowed to comment to the document, especially if the contents would prove detrimental to the case of his client. However, Villamor insisted that Ang's plea bargain will not impact nor would it be used in Estrada's case. Games they play Ang fled to the US shortly after Estrada's ouster in January 2001. He owned Power Management Consultancy Inc. that handled the initial run of the Bingo-2-Balls, a legalized version of jueteng under the auspices of the Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corp. Singson said Ang's company was supposed to have earned P150 billion a month from the legalized jueteng proceeds. Upon his arrival from the United States in November, Ang was detained at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Manila. When he was arraigned the next month, the Sandiganbayan ordered him confined at the Quezon City jail but the police, citing security threats, moved him the following day to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig. Liar, liar? For his part, Estrada denied that there was any truth to Ang's latest claims, alleging that his former close ally merely bowed to pressure from the Malacañang. "This is precisely what the Arroyo government wanted from Ang from the very beginning, this is the reason he was subjected to harassment and coercion for so many years so that he could be convinced to give them what they want even if it isn't the truth," Estrada said. His lawyer Rufus Rodriguez said Ang's desired plea bargain agreement was a futile request that the Sandiganbayan would eventually discard. "Mr Ang perjured himself as he had already testified before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee in October 2000 that the charges were baseless. He denied all the allegations of Gov. Chavit Singson then and I believe the honorable justices of the anti-graft court will take all this into account," he said. - GMANews.TV