Estrada lawyers: Boracay mansion inspection will reopen old wounds

Lawyers of jailed former President Joseph Estrada opposed yesterday the request of government lawyers to inspect the so-called "Boracay" mansion, allegedly owned by Estrada and supposedly a fruit of the former president’s string of corrupt transactions.

Estrada’s senior defense lawyer, Retired Justice Manuel Pamaran branded the prosecutors as "publicity seekers" and claimed the inspection will "definitely reopen old wounds and sabotage the unity process being undertaken by the present administration at this critical time."

"Undoubtedly, the gravity of the offense of plunder involving the President of the land deserves no less than the solemnity and majesty of a trial to keep the rule of law reign(ing) supreme in its pristine form and thus close the door to publicity seekers," Pamaran said in a six-page opposition to the government lawyers’ request.

He also said that allowing an unimpeded check on the property is just like bringing their client to a "crowd crying for his blood."

"To allow the ocular inspection of the Boracay mansion will again ignite such extreme partisan feeling and resentment, which in all likelihood will adversely affect the decision of the case in a highly dispassionate, impartial, conscientious, honorable, circumspect and just manner, to the utmost prejudice of the Estradas," Pamaran said.

Chief special prosecutor Dennis Villa Ignacio told the anti-graft court that the inspection was necessary to check whether the property was indeed abandoned.

The prosecution has alleged that the P142 million used in the purchase of Boracay came from the P3.2 billion Jose Velarde account, purportedly owned by Estrada.

Estrada’s lawyers, however, argued that there was never any evidence presented that Estrada owned the mansion and that due to this, the intended inspection "has no relevance or bearing in the case."

"The source of the money cannot be determined by ocular inspection. The object cannot speak so. The object is mute. It is hardly inconceivable. It is certainly an exercise in futility. It’s only a waste of time and effort," they said.

Estrada’s lawyers added that "the information limits itself to depositing the commission under the Velarde account and no other. There is complete absence of allegation that the money under the Velarde account was used in purchase or acquisition of any property, particularly the Boracay mansion."

They noted the statement of Jose Yulo, Estrada’s adviser on housing, that he will not object to an inspection is likewise "impertinent and irrelevant" because he "didn’t state in what capacity he (wrote) the letter."

Yulo is the president of St. Peter Holdings Corp., the registered owner of the Boracay mansion.