SC ruling on MJ out this week?

The Supreme Court (SC) may finally decide on the bail petition of Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez this week as the tribunal is set to take up today his appeal regarding the cancellation of his P1-million bail.

This was hinted at by Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. in a chance interview with reporters who attended an affair of the Metrobank Foundation and the Philippine Judicial Academy yesterday.

Jimenez’s extradition case to the US is still pending with the Manila Regional Trial Court. If the SC affirms its ruling canceling Jimenez’s bail, the controversial congressman will have to be arrested and spend Christmas in jail while he awaits the court’s decision on whether the US request for his extradition complies with the RP-US extradition treaty.

"I don’t think it will take a lot of time to decide because the issues are only enjoined insofar as the motion for reconsideration is concerned. It could even be before the year ends. It is necessary to be before or during the year. I hope it can be resolved tomorrow," Davide said.

A hearing on the legality of the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc.’s contract with the government is scheduled at 10 a.m. today at the session hall of the old SC Building in Ermita, Manila. This means that the 15 justices will have to deliberate on the matter before the scheduled hearing and release its full-length decision before the day ends.

However, Davide is just one of the 15 magistrates. While his opinion carries much weight, the SC is a collegial body which respects the rule of the majority.

In a forum at the Manila Hotel yesterday, Jimenez had a heated argument with one of the lawyers of Justice Secretary-on leave Hernando Perez when he was asked why he refused to go to the US to face charges against him.

"I have a lawyer in the US handling my cases there," Jimenez answered, pointing out that he doesn’t have to go immediately to the US to face charges against him by the US government.

Jimenez was slapped with tax evasion charges amounting to $3.5 million, six counts of false statement, mail fraud and 33 counts of illegal campaign contribution to US President Bill Clinton’s Democratic Party in 1996. The cases prompted Washington to request the Philippine government to have him extradited to face the charges.

Jimenez stressed, though, that Perez was muddling the case.

Perez was tagged as the Million Dollar Man in President Arroyo’s Cabinet who allegedly exhorted $2 million from Jimenez, an accusation that the Department of Justice (DOJ) chief denies.

In a related development, Bulacan Rep. Willie Buyson Villarama asked acting Justice Secretary Merceditas Gutierrez yesterday to allow the release of the travel records of Perez.

Perez allegedly holds the key to the opening of the mysterious Hong Kong bank account to which Jimenez deposited $2 million in supposed bribe money through banker Ernest Escaler.

The Bulacan lawmaker earlier revealed that Perez and Escaler arrived in Manila from Hong Kong on Feb. 25, 2001 on the same Cathay Pacific Flight CX919.

However, Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo cannot release Perez’s travel records on account of a Nov. 16, 2002 memorandum released by Perez prohibiting the disclosure of the travel records of the President, the Vice President, members of Congress and Cabinet secretaries in the wake of terrorist threats.

Villarama said that Perez imposed the disclosure ban four days after he delivered a privilege speech exposing the unnamed Million Dollar Man in Mrs. Arroyo’s Cabinet.

He stressed that if Perez has nothing to hide, he should not be afraid of the disclosure of his travel records.

Speaking through lawyer Eduardo Escueta, Jimenez said Perez can invoke the mutual legal assistance agreement between the Philippines and Hong Kong to seek the opening of account HO13706 in Coutts Bank.

The justice secretary signed the agreement on Feb. 22, 2001, a day before Jimenez claimed he wired $2 million from Uruguay to the Coutts Bank account.

Jimenez said that because of Perez’s refusal to push for the opening of the account, he went to the Office of the Ombudsman last week to seek its help.

In several interviews, including one with editors of The STAR, Perez expressed reluctance to push for the opening of the mysterious account.

"Ano, sila sinusuwerte? Ako pa ang maghahanap ng ebidensiya laban sa akin?," he said. (How lucky can they get. Why would I look for evidence against myself?)

Jimenez also revealed that he knows that the Coutts Bank account received another huge transfer of about $1.5 million from another former friend of ousted President Joseph Estrada.

He stressed that Escaler should return home and tell the truth about the huge transfers.