Estrada asks for leave to testify in Senate

Defense lawyers asked the Sandiganbayan yesterday to allow ousted President Joseph Estrada to testify before the Senate on Jan. 14 on the controversial agreement between the government and Argentine firm Industrias Metalurgicas Pescarmona, Sociedad Anonima (Impsa).

Prospero Crescini, who led Estrada’s court-appointed lawyers, said they have asked acting Presiding Justice Minita Chico-Nazario, who chairs the special division, to order the Philippine National Police (PNP) to bring the deposed chief executive to the Senate on Jan. 14.

"To avoid a repeat of the Dec. 17 incident, a directive to the PNP is in order for them to bring the accused Joseph Estrada to the Senate hearing on Jan. 14th," Crescini said.

He said Estrada already received a subpoena from the Senate last month for him to appear and to testify at the Jan. 14 hearing of the Senate committee on government corporations and public enterprises.

"The subcommittee commands the accused to appear and testify under oath, in his capacity as former President of the Republic of the Philippines, in the public hearing of the Senate committee on government corporations and public enterprises," he said.

However, Nazario said in Estrada’s plunder trial yesterday, there was no need for defense lawyers to ask the special division’s permission for Estrada to appear before the Senate.

"What do you have to ask us to direct," she said.

"Why should we rule on Mr. Estrada’s appearance at the Senate when the Senate is a co-equal body. The Senate need not ask us to issue an order for Mr. Estrada’s appearance in the Senate because we have nothing to do with that. The Senate has the power to bring the former President under their jurisdiction.

"What the Senate should do is to direct the PNP because the Senate has the cohesive power to compel Mr. Estrada to appear at the hearing for the Senate. They are an independent agency. The Senate has separate powers from the Sandiganbayan."

But Manuel Malaya, another of Estrada’s court-appointed lawyers, said although the Senate and the Sandiganbayan are co-equal bodies, they would still seek an order from the special division because Estrada is under its custody.

"There is a need for proper directive, from the Honorable Court, to bring the accused to the Senate," she said. "It is of public notice that last Dec. 17, former President Estrada was not brought to the Senate for the same hearing, for one reason or another."

Estrada would have testified last Dec. 17 on the contract for the construction of Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan project but the PNP refused to bring him to the Senate on the ground that it had not received any order from the anti-graft court.

The Senate committee on government corporations and public enterprises chaired by Sen. John Osmeña had invited Estrada to shed light on the agreement between the government and Impsa.

Earlier, Estrada said Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez, who has been extradited to the United States to face a string of federal charges, had offered him $14 million to approve the contract.