Prosecutors oppose Christmas leave for Estrada

No fair.

Government prosecutors asked the Sandiganbayan yesterday to deny the petition of ousted President Joseph Estrada and his son Jinggoy to allow them to spend the Christmas holidays at home.

Deputy Special Prosecutor Roberto Kallos said in a three-page opposition to the petition that the Dec. 23 - Jan. 2 "Christmas furlough" being sought by the Estradas has "no legal basis."

"In our jurisdiction, Christmas furlough is applicable only to a temporary leave of absence to one in the armed services of the country," Kallos said.

Allowing the Estradas a Christmas furlough would be a "bad precedent" as detainees in a similar situation might "not be accommodated," he added.

However, the Estradas through lawyer, former senator Rene Saguisag said the anti-graft court has the authority to grant them a furlough to return home for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Kallos said the Christmas furlough is similar to the house arrest that the Estradas asked from the court’s third division last June and which was later denied.

"Both are the same dog with different collars," read the government’s motion. "If house arrest as denied by the Honorable Court, cannot be granted for an indefinite period, neither must it be granted for a definite period."

Kallos said there is no precedent for the Sandiganbayan to allow the Estradas to temporarily leave their detention place at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City and spend the holidays in their homes in San Juan.

"It has no legal basis, neither does the motion have any legal precedent," read the government’s motion. "At no time in the history of the nation’s democracy was a prisoner tried for a capital offense allowed by the courts to go on a vacation. After all, there is a legal maxim that what cannot be done directly, cannot be done indirectly."

Meanwhile, Sandiganbayan stenographer Jano del Rosario denied yesterday allegations that he had stolen a draft resolution of Associate Justice Anacleto Badoy Jr., chairman of the third division, ordering the return of the Estradas to their former detention place in Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

Del Rosario told The STAR the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) would surely find his fingerprints in Badoy’s things because of his close association with the justice.

"What is impossible is, if you do not find my fingerprints in those documents," he said.

Del Rosario said his job with the third division entails taking dictation from Badoy which "naturally" requires him to hold a number of documents.

"If they will not find my fingerprints in the papers, it only means that I cleaned the papers," he said.

Last Wednesday, NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco told reporters that Del Rosario’s fingerprints matched those lifted from the yellow pad and folder supposedly containing the allegedly missing draft resolution.

Earlier, Badoy said he left the draft on the sofa in his office to preside over a hearing last No. 26 and that when he returned to his office at 4 p.m. he found that it was already missing.

In a television interview later, Badoy accused Del Rosario of taking the draft resolution. –Jose Rodel Clapano