Ocampo, Curato have also fled RP, prosecutor reveals

Two more witnesses, one of whom has given the Senate impeachment court the most damning evidence against President Estrada, have fled abroad after getting death threats, a member of the prosecution team said yesterday.

Equitable PCI Bank senior executives Clarissa Ocampo and Manuel Curato left the country after taking the witness stand earlier this month, private pro-secutor and former congressman Hernando Perez said.

"They left for abroad for their own safety," Perez said without disclosing their specific destinations. He said he himself has received death threats since he presented a key witness at the trial last week.

Ocampo earlier testified that the President placed a P500-million trust investment with the bank last year. It is by far the most damning evidence against the President since he had declared assets of only P35 million.

She said Mr. Estrada held the trust account under the name "Jose Velarde," and that she was just a foot away when the President signed it as such.

Curato, a lawyer, corroborated the testimony of Ocampo.

Their departure follows similar action by former Finance Secretary Edgardo Espiritu, who left for the US Saturday after receiving threats for his testimony.

Espiritu, the only member of the President’s official inner circle to have testified against him, alleged last week that Mr. Estrada said he had reaped a fortune trading in the stock of gaming firm BW Resources, whose unprecedented rise in share prices triggered an investigation on possible insider trading.

Prosecutor and Makati Rep. Joker Arroyo claimed last week that the President’s aides have been approaching potential witnesses and that one of them had since turned "hostile." Ambassador Ernesto Maceda, acting as presidential spokesman for the trial, rejected suggestions that his men were behind the intimidation of witnesses.

"I thought they (the prosecutors) said the witnesses were all staying in safe houses," Maceda said.

Foreign investors eyeing Equitable

Two foreign groups and at least three local banks have expressed interest in buying troubled Equitable-PCI Bank, finance officials said yesterday.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Rafael Buenaventura said a foreign investor and at least three Philippine banks want to buy Equitable-PCI Bank while Finance Secretary Jose Pardo said a US and an Asian group had expressed interest.

Sources said the interested parties are the American Insurance Group and Newbridge Capital Inc., a US-based firm with a subsidiary in Singapore.

"This is a welcome move, especially if it will be merged with local banks or a foreign bank will be coming in," Pardo said.

Both men did not give details on the prospective buyers.

The Social Security System (SSS) is keeping its options open in connection with its stake in Equitable-PCI Bank, saying it would only buy or sell equities if it is beneficial to the institution.

SSS chairman and president Carlos Arellano rejected speculations in the media that the pension fund is planning to sell equities following a controversy over the President’s alleged secret accounts in the bank.

"We are in no hurry to sell our shares in the bank," Arellano said. "We are keeping our options open and will buy or sell if the price is right and if it is beneficial to the SSS."

Reports earlier quoted unnamed sources that the SSS and the majority owners of Equitable-PCI Bank were planning to sell their combined stake after the bank got embroiled in the impeachment trial. This has led to heavy withdrawals in the country’s third largest bank.

The SSS, which occupies two seats in the 15-member board of directors, stated the bank has been an equity earner last year. In the first 11 months of 2000, the SSS earned more than P160 million in trading gains and dividends from its investment in the bank.

The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) expressed a similar position, saying they would only sell its 12-percent equity stake "if the price is right" and that it does not "incur a loss in the process."

"The GSIS does not have to liquidate now. We can wait for the market to turn around before we sell," said GSIS vice president Mer Nilo Racimo.

Arellano refuted reports that the SSS and other majority owners held a special board meeting last week in which they decided to sell their shares.

"No such meeting transpired, We will buy or sell if the price is right and as long as we do not go beyond the prescribed limit set in our charter," he said. – Rocel Felix, Ted Torres