Court: Erap assets before he became prexy can’t be seized

The Sandiganbayan Special Division has exempted the properties of former President Joseph Estrada from being confiscated by the government. The antigraft court ruled that the assets acquired by Estrada before he became president in 1998 cannot be taken away from him by the government. According to the court’s nine-page resolution issued late Monday, government lawyers cannot include Estrada's personal and real properties to fulfill the P735 million forfeiture cost imposed on the former president after he was convicted of plunder last September 12. The ruling was signed by associate justices Diosdado Peralta, Rodolfo Ponferrada, and Francisco Villaruz Jr, chairman of the special division. The court said that the inclusion of Estrada's personal and real assets in the confiscation would go beyond the definition of forfeiture and would transform the forfeiture into civil liability, which was not covered by the guilty verdict. "This theory of the prosecution removes the distinction between forfeiture as a penalty and civil liability," it said. The Sandiganbayan held that it was an oversight on the part of prosecutors that they allowed the verdict to attain finality without seeking damages and restitution against Estrada. "Prosecution has neither reserved, waived nor presented evidence of damages which the movant should have been made to answer. The Decision having become final, no determination of civil liability can be made by the Court at this time," the court said. Likewise, the court overruled the argument of Estrada's defense that the State's right to recover ill-gotten wealth should be limited to properties specified in the verdict namely the Jose Velarde account which used to contain P3.2 billion, the P200 million bank deposit in the name of the Erap Muslim Youth Foundation (EMYF) and the Boracay Mansion located in New Manila, Quezon City. "Not only does the Plunder Law authorize the forfeiture of the ill-gotten wealth as well as any asset acquired with the use of ill-gotten wealth, (it) likewise authorizes the forfeiture of these ill-gotten wealth and any assets acquired therefrom even if they are in the possession of other persons," the court said. Based on these pronouncements, the Sandiganbayan held that the Jose Velarde assets recently traced at Banco de Oro totalling over P1.1 billion could be levied by the State. The court instructed Chief Sheriff Edgardo Urieta to garnish the Banco de Oro collaterals consisting of P500 million promissory notes, 750 million Waterfront shares initially assessed to be worth P652.5 million and the contents of the Common Trust Fund in the amount of P95.76 million. - GMANews.TV