Star witness a kin of defense lawyer

It’s the other way around.

The prosecution panel in the impeachment trial of President Estrada denied yesterday that surprise prosecution witness Clarissa Ocampo was related to prosecution lawyer Wigberto Tañada.

Defense lawyers claimed that Ocampo, senior vice president and trust officer of Equitable-PCI Bank, was not a reliable witness because she is related to Tañada, a congressman from Quezon.

"She is not related to Tañada. On the contrary, she is related to defense lawyer Estelito Mendoza," said House Minority Leader Feliciano Belmonte Jr., the prosecution manager.

Both Belmonte and Tañada said a daughter of Mendoza named Susan is married to Manolet Ocampo, the first cousin of Ocampo’s husband, Eric.

"So, Mrs. Ocampo is related by affinity to the defense lawyer," Belmonte chuckled over radio station dzBB.

Tañada, in a statement, said that contrary to the allegation of defense lawyer Raymond Parsifal Fortun that Ocampo is a relative of his wife, her husband Eric is actually the first cousin of Mendoza’s son-in-law Manolet Ocampo.

"The defense panel is hell-bent on destroying her credibility. The claim that Ocampo is a relative of my wife is another of their lies," he said.

In a television interview, Fortun admitted that the claim of both Belmonte and Tañada was true.

Ocampo testified before the Senate impeachment court last Dec. 22 that she was only a foot away from the President when he signed at Malacañang last Feb. 4 the specimen signature card and the P500-million investment management agreement using the name "Jose Velarde."

She said the P500 million was loaned to the Wellex Group owned by "plastics king" William Gatchalian, a friend of Mr. Estrada.

The prosecution alleged that the Jose Velarde account was the source of the P142-million check used by another presidential friend, Jose "Sel" Yulo, to buy the P86-million "Boracay" mansion in New Manila, Quezon City of former actress Laarni Enriquez, one of several presidential mistresses.

In a related development, a prosecution lawyer said the President can get temporary refuge from the technicalities invoked by his lawyers, but he cannot escape from the truth.

"The President must tell the people the truth, and any delay in doing so can only reinforce the fear that he and his lawyers are too preoccupied with concocting stories in the hope of hiding the truth," Misamis Oriental Rep. Oscar Moreno said.

Moreno twitted the President and his lawyers over reports that Mr. Estrada had been advised not to make any comment on Ocampo’s testimony that the President was Jose Velarde.

"This is a bad twist to our nation’s quest for truth," he said as he dared the President not to hide behind his lawyers.

Moreno stressed that the President, like all public officials, is subject to the constitutional provision on public accountability at all times.

Another prosecution lawyer dared yesterday the President’s lawyers to try to directly impugn the testimony of Ocampo instead of resorting to technicalities.

Prosecutor Sergio Apostol expressed the belief that the President’s lawyers and supporters are raising only side issues because they could not contradict the testimony of Ocampo that Mr. Estrada is Jose Velarde.

"They (defense lawyers) might not even cross-examine her, because another witness will confirm what she had told the impeachment court," Apostol said.

He noted that defense lawyers have been hammering the inadmissibility of Ocampo’s testimony, not because what she said was not true but because they claim the Jose Velarde account was not covered by the four Articles of Impeachment filed against the President.

The defense lawyers also said that the prosecution still has to prove that the P500 million contained in the Jose Velarde account was ill-gotten.

In another development, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) declared yesterday that no laws are violated when a depositor opens a numbered account using an alias in Philippine banks.

BSP Governor Rafael Buenaventura said the only risk the account owner has to take is that the bank must know his or her true identity.

According to Buenaventura, the BSP issued a circular compelling the bank to determine the true identity of owners of numbered accounts only last October to dispel allegations that the Philippines is a money-laundering capital.

With the BSP’s clarification on this matter, the issue in the impeachment trial involving allegations that the President opened an account in Equitable-PCI Bank using the name Jose Velarde shows that no laws were violated in carrying out the practice.

Businessman Jose Dichaves had written the impeachment court to inform its members that he is the true owner of the Velarde account.

Under the present setup, Dichaves did not violate any law or rule in opening the account under an alias.

"Having a numbered account is allowed, even abroad, but you have to identify who is the owner of that numbered account," Buenaventura said. — Efren Danao