Robbery raps filed vs Ilusorio sisters, 9 others

The Justice department on Wednesday filed robbery charges against members of the Ilusorio clan and seven employees of the Senate security for the September 2006 raid on the offices of the Philcomsat Holdings Corp. (PHC) in Makati City. In an eight-page resolution, Makati City 2nd assistant prosecutor Edgardo Hirang ruled there was probable cause to indict sisters Erlinda Ilusorio Bildner, Marietta Kalaw Ilusorio and Kelly Ilusorio Raab and members of their staff Raul Baria and Rosanna Baria. Hirang also included seven members of the Senate Office of the Sergeant at Arms in the robbery charge. Their identities were not immediately available as of posting time. The accused were found to be liable for allegedly stealing vital documents and cash belonging to Manuel Andal, director and treasurer of PHC. The prosecutor dropped robbery charges against Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Jose Balajadia Jr and Senate government corporations and public enterprises committee secretary Rosario Chapman since they were not present when the break-in happened September 14, 2006. Hirang said: "There was indeed unlawful taking after access was gained to the office of the complainant by force. The circumstances...showed that respondents Bildner, Ilusorio, Raab and the Baria spouses (were) motivated by a common objective and cooperated with each other in the achievement of the same." The filing of robbery charges against the Ilusorio sisters came after Andal accused them of allegedly conspiring to rob the PHC office in a bid to illegally obtain documents that were subsequently used against the complainant in the Senate committee hearing on the supposed bleeding of the PHC and its mother corporation, Philippine Communications Satellite Inc. (Philcomsat). The documents were presented by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile in the committee hearing held the day after the raid took place. The documents included, among others, receipts and bank deposits and other bank transaction documents under PHC's account. The Senate committee has been caught in the middle of a corporate war between the group of the Ilusorio and Victor Africa and the present Philcomsat/PHC officers. While Erlinda Bildner is a stockholder of PHC, she and her group at Philcomsat and POTC are at odds with the current board of directors of PHC over their respective leadership claims over the three companies. The government owns 40 percent of POTC, which in turn wholly owns Philcomsat. Philcomsat, on the other hand, owns 80 percent of PHC. The boards of POTC and Philcomsat are both headed by Bildner and Victor Africa while PHC is led by Ramon Nieto and Enrique Locsin. The Supreme Court and the Securities and Exchange Commission have both upheld that it is the group of Nieto and Locsin that should takeover POTC and Philcomsat but this has been contested by the Ilusorios. Andal, citing the sworn affidavit of Nilo Daquioag, a security guard of the building who witnessed the incident, said at 6:20 p.m., several persons from the Senate OSAA arrived at the PHC office at the Pacific Star Building, purportedly to serve the warrant for his arrest, as well as those for PCGG Commissioner Ricardo Abecede and several PHC directors. The warrants of arrest were issued by Sen. Richard Gordon for their repeated non-appearance in the hearings conducted by the Gordon committee. The Ilusorios and the Barias reportedly arrived in the building and helped the Senate security officers break down the padlock of the PHC office. Andal alleged that once inside, the group also forced open the door of his office by hitting it with a fire extinguisher and then reportedly ransacked his office and took several documents. The entire incident was recorded by a GMA-7 news team, which accompanied the Senate security team in serving the subpoena to Andal. "It was too much of a coincidence that the Ilusorios came to the office of the PHC at the very same time that the people from the Senate were there to serve the warrants," the prosecution ruled. - GMANews.TV