Early arraignment of Estrada pushed

May 21 instead of June 27.

The Office of the Ombudsman asked the Sandiganbayan yesterday to reset to an earlier date the arraignment of ousted President Joseph Estrada and his seven co-accused in the plunder case, among them his son San Juan Mayor Jinggoy Estrada and lawyer Edward Serapio.

In a 12-page motion, Ombudsman Aniano De- sierto said prosecutors were ready to show that the evidence against the respondents was strong.

Desierto also petitioned the anti-graft court’s third division headed by Justice Anacleto Badoy to set the joint hearing on the petitions for bail by the Estradas and Serapio who are all under custody.

Under the law, plunder is a capital offense and therefore non-bailable and punishable by death.

Desierto said earlier the petitions for bail could be heard only after the arraignment, adding this is in accordance with "long-standing practice and constrained by expressed requirements of the law and the rules."

In their petitions, Jinggoy and Serapio argued that they should be allowed to post bail since they were mentioned in only one count of alleged conspiracy with the former president to commit the crime of plunder.

Badoy has set the hearing on Serapio’s petition for bail on May 21 through 25.

Desierto opposed the conduct of separate hearings on the petitions for bail, saying it would defeat the purpose of a speedy trial as required by Republic Act 8493 and the revised rules of criminal procedure.

The Ombudsman said the two laws seek to expedite the trial of criminal cases, especially those under preventive suspension.

"The conduct of a separate bail hearing for accused Serapio will necessitate an unwarranted and superfluous repetition of the same process vis-a-vis the other accused, entailing a considerable waste of the court’s and all the parties’ time, energy and resources," Desierto argued.

On the contention by Jinggoy and Serapio that they were charged in only one component of the plunder case, Desierto countered that the issue is that the two respondents were considered as co-conspirators in amassing P4.088 billion in ill-gotten wealth of the principal accused, the former president.

Desierto asserted that the conduct of a joint bail hearing would be convenient for the principal witnesses of the prosecution who will testify that the evidence of guilt against all the accused is strong.

Desierto also said two vital witnesses against the disgraced leader have been receiving death threats and should be placed under the government’s Witness Protection Program.

Meanwhile, Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Francis Garchitorena got into a word war with at least two members of the prosecution panel who have claimed they were needlessly reprimanded by the magistrate during an open court hearing of the plunder case.

Special Prosecutor Leonardo Tamayo branded as "uncivilized" Garchitorena’s act of asking his colleague, Special Prosecutor Victorio Tabangull, the reason for filing an indirect bribery charge against former Presidential Legislative Liaison Officer Jose Jaime Policarpio.

Policarpio pleaded not guilty upon his arraignment yesterday before the anti-graft court.

Garchitorena asked Tabangull if Policarpio was being charged for receiving bribes from jueteng operators amounting to P2 million per month from November 1998 to August 2000 in his capacity as a government official, or as a participant in the illegal numbers game.

Tabangull replied that he could not answer the question because he had not yet read the entire documentary evidence against Policarpio.

Tamayo pointed that the question should not have been asked during the arraignment proceedings.

"He (Garchitorena) asked what is the participation of Policarpio in jueteng. Those are irrelevant to the arraignment. Garchitorena appears to be uncivilized," Tamayo rued.

Tamayo said he was not afraid of being cited in contempt for making the statement against Garchitorena.

However, the magistrate merely shrugged off Tamayo’s tirade, saying the prosecutor could be barking up the wrong tree because he was not even present during Policarpio’s arraignment.

"You know what I said. I don’t want to engage in a debate. If I am very uncivilized, it takes talent to ask irrelevant questions," Garchitorena said.

Desierto said their witnesses, among them bank executive Manuel Corato, have been getting death threats from unidentified men.

The Ombudsman also said they were coordinating with United State authorities to speed up the extradition of other people cited in the plunder case, including Estrada’s personal auditor Yolanda Ricaforte and crony Charlie "Atong" Ang.

The two fled to the US as the Estrada administration collapsed amid a military and Church-backed popular uprising last January.

"We expect the extradition of Ricaforte and the other accused (who have fled to) the US before the arraignment of the former president and his co-accused," Desierto said.