Ani told: Dig deeper into Velarde account

Prosecutors should not be content with ousted President Joseph Estrada’s admission that he signed bank documents as Jose Velarde but should dig deeper into the P3.23-billion Velarde account, Rep. Oscar Moreno (Lakas, Misamis Oriental) said yesterday.

"Even without such admission, Ombudsman Aniano Desierto and his prosecution panel can prove that Estrada owned the Velarde account through independent evidence," he said.

Moreno was a member of the House panel that prosecuted the former president in his aborted Senate impeachment trial.

He said Desierto and Ombudsman prosecutors should question Estrada’s businessmen-friends who remitted tens if not hundreds of millions of pesos to his Velarde account in Equitable PCI Bank.

He said among those who contributed to the account were Jaime Dichaves, Lucio Co, Manuel Pangilinan, a certain Kevin Garcia, and Mark Jimenez, who is now a Manila congressman.

Moreno said these contributors can testify that the ousted president owned the Velarde account.

He added that most of the contributions were in "pay to cash" checks.

He said prosecutors should also retrace the P130 million in tobacco excise tax that Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson claimed he delivered to Estrada through his friends Charlie "Atong" Ang, and the P200 million in jueteng money that the fallen leader allegedly received from Singson.

He said the P200 million was entrusted to Yolanda Ricaforte who, Singson claimed, was the jueteng money auditor designated by Estrada, and who remitted it to Edward Serapio, an Estrada lawyer.

The money was deposited in Equitable’s Pacific Star Building branch in Makati City, the same branch that handled the Velarde remittances and withdrawals, Moreno added.

Impeachment trial records show that the branch manager, Beatriz Bagsit, is a trustee of the Erap Muslim Youth Foundation headed by Raul de Guzman, a brother-in-law of the ousted leader.

In a related development, Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. (Lakas, Camarines Sur) joined other congressmen in opposing the proposal to exile Estrada to another country.

Andaya said the former president should not be allowed to leave and should face the music here.

"If we exile him, what message will we be sending to our people and future Filipinos? That justice plays second fiddle to political expediency?" he asked.

Two congressmen who have signed a resolution to allow Estrada to seek medical treatment abroad are planning to withdraw their signatures.

Representatives Juan Miguel Zubiri (Lakas, Bukidnon) and Abraham Mitra (LDP, Palawan) said the former president’s belligerence toward the Sandiganbayan and his contempt for the justice system made many people believe that he won’t return if he is permitted to go abroad.

"The evaporation of support is starting. Many in the House are beginning to have second thoughts. They are asking if a person who doesn’t show remorse deserves some sympathy," Zubiri said.

He said one cannot support the travel bid of a person "who badmouths the courts, threatens to unleash a mob against the government and holds his own trial hostage by refusing legal counsel if others will not give in to his whims."

Mitra said the mass actions that Estrada’s supporters are threatening against the Arroyo administration will surely erode sympathy for the disgraced president.

"Any repetition of the violent attack on Malacañang will be roundly condemned even by those in the opposition," he said.