Bong Pineda eyed in Estrada plunder raps

Suspected jueteng kingpin Rodolfo "Bong" Pineda will be indicted in the plunder case of ousted President Joseph Estrada.

Ombudsman Aniano Desierto announced this yesterday after a witness in the Estrada case told the Sandiganbayan that she collected P10 million in alleged jueteng money from Pineda’s house in San Juan more than two years ago.

Estrada is facing charges of receiving millions of pesos from illegal gambling operators and kickbacks from tobacco taxes. The plunder charges against him are punishable by death.

Desierto said Pineda will be made a co-accused in the case along with his brother Romy and former Undersecretary Anton Prieto, an adviser of Estrada.

He said that based on the testimony of witness Emma Lim, P10 million of jueteng funds were collected from Pineda’s house along Albany street in North Greenhills, San Juan in January and February 2000.

Lim, the 27th witness presented by the prosecution against Estrada, was the personal secretary of former Ilocos Sur governor Luis "Chavit" Singson, a close friend of the former president who admitted delivering to him millions of pesos in illegal gambling proceeds.

Lim said that in January 2000, she got P5 million from Pineda’s house and another P5 million from the same place the following month. The money, she said, were given by Pineda’s brother Romy.

She recalled that in her two visits to Pineda’s house, she was welcomed by a certain Marty, who introduced himself as one of the suspected jueteng lord’s staff.

She said that in both visits, Romy Pineda arrived with a red paper bag containing the money.

"Romy made me sign a half-page bond paper which certified that I received the money," she said.

Pineda has been long reported as being on top of jueteng operations in Central Luzon. He has denied the allegation although scores of jueteng collectors arrested in the region have named him as their leader.

During yesterday’s court hearing, Lim also alleged that she collected close to P12 million from Prieto in nine Philippine National Bank checks between June 1999 to February 2000. Prieto was then serving as presidential adviser on Bicol affairs.

She claimed having met Prieto for the first time at the lobby of a Makati hotel. She said that during the meeting, Prieto handed her an envelope containing a check for P1,190,000 for Singson.

Aside from Pineda and Prieto, Lim also dragged Estrada’s son Jinggoy, the former mayor of San Juan, into the jueteng case. She said that on three occasions in 2000, she collected from the young Estrada P3 million in alleged jueteng funds.

On one occasion, Lim claimed to have counted P1 million in cash on a table inside Jinggoy’s office, just several meters from where the mayor was sitting.

Jinggoy has already been included in the plunder charge of the former president.

Desierto said his office will be conducting a preliminary probe of Pineda, his brother, and Prieto so as to prevent Estrada’s lawyers from using the lack of preliminary investigation as reason to delay the case.

Meanwhile, Estrada and his son may be allowed to vote in the July 15 barangay elections. However, they should only be allowed vote inside the Veterans Memorial Medical Center and the Makati Medical Center and not in San Juan, Desierto said.

The Eatradas earlier filed a motion to be allowed to leave the hospitals where they are confined so they can cast their votes in the polls.

In his six-page opposition to the motion, Desierto claimed that allowing the two accused to leave their detention will be a costly move for the government.

"It will entail so much expenses considering the number of security personnel to be mobilized to ensure their safety in escorting them to the polling precinct," he said.

Desierto noted that in the May 14, 2001 elections, the Estradas were not allowed to vote in San Juan by the Sandiganbayan. "The court considered the enormous security problems," he said.

The Ombudsman further said that he was quite surprised that Jinggoy, who claims to be suffering from a heart ailment, is insisting to go to San Juan to vote.

"To our mind, allowing him to vote there might be detrimental to his health which might be affected by the sudden change of weather and exposure to the elements," he said.