Chavit: Estrada aides tried to prevent me from testifying

No less than former President Joseph Estrada’s closest aides and relatives tried to silence former Ilocos Sur governor Luis "Chavit" Singson but his financial and personal survival prevailed in the end.

That was the gist of Singson’s testimony before the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan yesterday as he continued to relate how he and Estrada, a long-time friend and ally, had a falling out over the illegal numbers game called jueteng.

Singson said he and the former president had a falling out sometime in September 2000 when Estrada decided to allow his cousin and political rival, then Ilocos Sur Rep. Eric Singson, to operate a new and "legal" numbers game, called "Bingo 2-Ball," in half of Ilocos Sur.

In a bid to "legalize" jueteng, Singson said Estrada summoned him and fugitive businessman Dante Tan to Malacañang sometime in August 2000 to talk about the creation of a new numbers game, called Pick-2, to replace jueteng.

Aside from Tan, Singson said they also met with businessman Rodolfo "Bong" Pineda, who allegedly controls jueteng in large areas of Luzon.

"President Estrada wanted to shift from jueteng to Pick-2 to get bigger earnings... He said (Pick-2) had a semblance of legality," Singson told the court headed by Justice Minita Chico-Nazario.

But the Pick-2 project did not materialize and Estrada summoned him again to talk about Bingo 2-Ball, a brainchild of fugitive gambling lord Charlie "Atong" Ang, another close friend of the former president.

Ang was able to collect a total of P100 million in "franchise fees" from jueteng operators all over the country and the money was supposedly deposited in the bank account of Ang’s secretary, Singson said.

In early September 2000, however, Ang informed Singson that Estrada had given the Bingo 2-Ball franchise in Ilocos Sur to Eric Singson, infuriating Chavit.

Worse, Ang supposedly told Singson’s son and political lieutenant, Randy, that Singson was already helpless in his own province because all the Ilocos Sur police chiefs were already in Ang’s payroll and that Singson’s political career was over. Chavit called Estrada for an explanation.

"I told President Estrada that if he will drop me like a hot potato because of that, I will break my ties with him. He never answered so I put down the phone," Singson said.

Singson then started gathering evidence that Estrada was involved in the jueteng protection racket and called Estrada’s son, jailed former San Juan Mayor Jinggoy Estrada, to persuade the president to back down.

Jinggoy promised to speak with his father but, Singson said, "nothing happened."

Singson also called Jinggoy’s half-brother, incumbent San Juan Mayor Joseph Victor "JV" Ejercito, who also promised to persuade his father to back down. But, Singson said, nothing happened.

Singson next spoke with former Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora, the incumbent San Juan congressman, and showed him the "ledger" of collections Singson had supposedly collected for Estrada from gambling bosses all over the country.

Zamora also promised to speak with the former president so that Singson would not have to go public with his evidence. But nothing also happened.

Singson finally spoke with Zamora’s successor as Executive Secretary, now Sen. Edgardo Angara, who was supposedly shocked at the evidence Singson showed him.

But, Singson related, Estrada rebuffed Angara’s attempts to reconcile the two and even got angry that Singson was threatening to make public the evidence he had been gathering.

"Angara told me to wait until the end of the month (September 2000), but I told him, ‘Thank you but I’m determined to come out in the open.’"