Dichaves is Estrada’s big witness — solon

The surprise "bombshell" defense witness who will testify at the resumption of President Estrada’s impeachment trial on Jan. 2 is no other than presidential friend Jaime Dichaves, the man who has claimed ownership of the P1.2-billion Jose Velarde accounts in Equitable-PCI Bank.

This was revealed yesterday by Quezon City Rep. Michael Defensor who said that Dichaves has been practicing how to sign the name "Jose Velarde" since last week.

The Velarde accounts were made public by Equitable-PCI Bank senior vice president Clarissa Ocampo who testified before the trial adjourned last week that she witnessed the President sign the fictitious name on several bank documents last February.

Ocampo’s testimony stunned the public and offered the first direct link between the President and the controversial secret accounts. Prosecutors said the testimony was enough to pin Mr. Estrada on graft and corruption, one of the four articles of impeachment filed by the House of Representatives against him.

The President’s lawyers have vowed, however, to discredit Ocampo if they cannot move to strike her testimony from the trial’s records.

Defensor said he has gathered information that the defense will be presenting documents signed by Dichaves as Velarde and authenticated by Ocampo.

However, he said the documents were signed merely a week before Ocampo testified.

"These documents were the products of coercion. One week before she testified, Clarissa Ocampo was forced to sign papers showing that Dichaves is Velarde and that the huge Equitable account belongs to him," Defensor said.

Defensor added that it was defense lawyer Estelito Mendoza who convinced Ocampo to sign the documents in the presence of former Equitable-PCI Bank chairman George Go.

The STAR tried to get comments from Mendoza and other lawyers of the President but they were all not immediately available.

Marinduque Rep. Edmund Reyes, a spokesman for the prosecution, said Go must be asked to testify in the resumption of the trial to shed light on the rich Velarde account.

Go quit Equitable-PCI Bank shortly after the impeachment tribunal opened the bank documents which showed that Velarde was allowed to open numerous accounts through an endorsement by a bank executive with a GLG initials.

The said initials were believed to be Go’s.

Estrada unfazed

Meanwhile, Mr. Estrada said he was unfazed by prosecution threats to spring more surprise witnesses in his impeachment trial in a bid to seal his conviction.

"Even if they get all surprise witnesses, they can’t prove anything," he said shortly after his visit to Cagayan de Oro City yesterday.

"I am not even bothered about it. I am not afraid or whoever witness they will put on the stand," he said.

"Anyway, it’s all in the impeachment court. Que sera, sera, what will happen will happen," Mr. Estrada added.

The President deplored reports that the prosecution has engaged in "dirty tactics" to secure their surprise witnesses.

"I even heard that they are trying to convince them by offers of position or even pay. There were allegedly congressmen and even priests who approached them (witnesses). They are doing every means," he said.

Among those reportedly being lined up by the prosecution to testify include former presidential chief of staff Aprocidicio Laquian and former Finance Secretary Edgardo Espiritu who used have a stake at the former Westmont Bank (now United Overseas Bank) which received several manager’s checks from Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson.

Singson accused the President of receiving millions of proceeds from the illegal numbers game jueteng.

House Minority Leader Feliciano Belmonte Jr. (Lakas, Quezon City), the manager of the prosecution, confirmed reports they were considering the Canada-based Laquian as a key witness. "It would be best in the interest of truth if Laquian would come and testify," he said.

Laquian was sacked last March 22 after exposing the President’s drinking sprees with his "midnight Cabinet" or cronies in the wee hours of the morning when shady deals were allegedly struck.

Ocampo had testified that Laquian was present when the President signed the bank documents as "Jose Velarde" at Malacañang last Feb. 4.

The President reiterated his claim that he is innocent of all the four Articles of Impeachment filed against him. "I hope there will be an early decision in this trial," he said.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado and three directors of a Muslim scholarship foundation which reportedly received bribe money given to the President by jueteng operators gave closed-door oral depositions before prosecutors and defense lawyers earlier yesterday.

Mercado, the President’s campaign manager in the 1998 presidential elections, was asked to shed light on reports that an American public relations consultant had also received illegal gambling money as payment for his services, officials said.

The depositions were meant to abbreviate the impeachment proceedings by putting on record their statements before the prosecution determines whether to put them on the stand or not, the officials added. – With Marichu Villanueva