Prosecution set to present Chavit secretary at Estrada trial

Government lawyers are set to present tomorrow the personal secretary of former Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson to corroborate earlier testimony that jailed former President Joseph Estrada received pay-offs from jueteng operators.

Emma Lim, the prosecution’s 27th witness against Estrada, is expected to corroborate the testimony of Carmencita Itchon, another Singson employee, that Estrada received millions of pesos collected by Singson from gambling bosses from all over the country.

Lim is now a director of the government-owned Camp John Hay-Poro Point Development Corp.

Itchon earlier testified that she had direct knowledge of the pay-offs to Estrada and his son, former San Juan Mayor Jinggoy Estrada, because she was the assistant of fugitive Yolanda Ricaforte, who was allegedly Estrada’s auditor on jueteng collections.

Itchon also claimed she received a monthly salary of P40,000 from Fontainbleau Inc., supposedly one of Estrada’s front companies, and that her immediate boss was the former president.

Government lawyers charged that Estrada and Jinggoy amassed ill-gotten wealth amounting to some P545 million.

Ombudsman Aniano Desierto said that after Lim, Singson himself will testify before the court’s special division, chaired by Associate Justice Minita Chico-Nazario, which is handling the charges of plunder, illegal use of an alias and perjury against the former president.

Desierto said he pushed Singson’s testimony ahead of schedule to hasten the court’s ruling on Jinggoy’s petition for bail.

"We want to expedite the prosecution of this case," Desierto said.