No bag containing Jinggoy’s ‘pork’ kickbacks during Tuason’s Senate visit – witness   

A witness from the Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms (OSA) on Wednesday said there was no instance when pork barrel scam whistleblower Ruby Tuason was seen at the Senate building carrying a duffel bag, which supposedly contained millions-worth of the alleged kickbacks of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada from the “pork” anomaly.

At the continuation of her testimony before the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division, defense witness Jemma Saccuan, chief of the OSA Integrated and Electronics Technical Operations Section, said that of all the CCTV footage in the Senate Building for the entire 2008, which her office had reviewed, none has shown the image of Tuason carrying any duffel bag, contrary to what the latter's claim during her testimony before the court.

“Have you seen Ms. Tuason carrying any duffel bag?” Fifth Division chairman Associate Justice Roland Jurado asked.

“Wala po,” Saccuan replied.

“Have you seen her carrying any bag bigger than a usual bag?” Jurado further inquired.

Saccuan also replied in the negative.

'Bagman'

Tuason earlier admitted during her testimony that she acted as bagman Estrada for the lawmaker’s alleged kickbacks from the pork barrel scam.

Tuason said there was an instance in 2008 when she delivered the alleged “pork” kickback of Estrada amounting to P5 million in his Senate office. Tuason said the cash kickback was contained in a duffel bag.

Further, Tuason told the court that she passed the Senate VIP parking entrance during that visit. She, however, failed to remember the date or the month of the visit, but said that it was sometime in 2008.

Saccuan, in her testimony on Monday, confirmed that based on their review of the CCTV footages, there were 12 days in which Tuason was seen at the Senate building in 2008.

Saccuan said Tuason was seen at the ground floor, 5th floor and 6th floor of the Senate building.

The Senate office of Estrada is located at the 6th floor of the building.

Saccuan, however, said there was no CCTV footage of Tuason and Estrada together.

However, during her cross-examination by State Prosecutor Hazel Valdez on Wednesday’s hearing, Saccuan admitted that the CCTV footage at the Senate VIP parking entrance for 2008, which were saved on VHS tapes, had already been deleted.

“Dine-delete po namin, every month kapag walang significant incident or complaint,” Saccuan said.

Saccuan said that in 2008, the Senate OSA did not have enough budget to digitize the CCTV footage saved in VHS format.

“Is there any other way for us to verify if Ms. Tuason entered the VIP area? Because you said the VHS recordings in that area have already been deleted,” Valdez asked.

“Wala na po,” Saccuan admitted.

It was at that point that Valdez, again hit the supposed incompleteness of the OSA’s report on its CCTV review.

Valdez then played before the court a CCTV footage dated Nov. 19, 2008, showing Tuason coming from a certain area of the Senate building and walking to the main lobby.

“So where is she (Tuason) coming from? [Did she come] from the VIP entrance?” Fifth Division Senior member Associate Justice Alexander Gesmundo asked, referring to the CCTV footage being shown on the projector.

“Yes,” Saccuan said.

Upon further questioning by Valdez, Saccuan admitted that while that particular CCTV footage was part of the OSA’s recordings, it was not included in their report, which was marked as evidence of Estrada’s camp for his petition to post bail for his plunder case.

“Per instruction po ni Sergeant-at-Arms [Retired Major General Jose Balajadia], ang kukunin lang po na footage for the report ay yung kita ang mukha ni Ms. Tuason para makilala siya,” Saccuan explained.

'Not reliable?'

After the hearing, Valdez said the CCTV footage that their camp was able to show to the court disproved the witness’ claim that there is no longer a way to confirm if Tuason had access to the Senate VIP ara.

“Hindi kumpleto ang report….With all due respect to OSA, its report is not reliable…Now we were able to show that there is a footage of her coming from the VIP entrance,” Valdez said.

Valdez also questioned motive behind the deletion of the CCTV footage at the Senate VIP entrance.

“It is quite very co-incidental and it is quite very unfortunate na kung ano pa yung mga footage and video records na importante sa kasong ito, yun pa ang nadelete daw,” Valdez said.

Estrada is facing plunder and graft charges for allegedly allocating portions of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel from 2004 to 2012 to the fake foundations allegedly owned by Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the pork scam.

Estrada allegedly amassed P183-million worth of kickbacks from the scam. He has been detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame since June 2014. — RSJ, GMA News