TV crews, photogs barred from ‘Boracay’ visit

Television crewmen and newspaper photographers will be barred from taking footage and pictures of the alleged "Boracay" mansion of ousted President Joseph Estrada as the Sandiganbayan conducts an ocular inspection of the property on March 19.

Reporters, however, will be allowed to join the justices and lawyers of both parties in touring the P14- million mansion located in New Manila, Quezon City.

The inspection was reset from March 21 to March 19 to accommodate the defense panel’s request to move the inspection to an earlier date due to prior engagements they have.

"We did not allow them. We excluded them. Why would we need the media? Picture-taking will not be allowed but reporters will be there," Sandiganbayan special division head Justice Minita Chico-Nazario told chief special prosecutor Dennis Villa Ignacio.

"Sorry, but that is our view. But this one," she said, referring to the camera installed by NBN-4, the government-owned station, "will be allowed."

The Supreme Court has allowed the recording of the proceedings for record purposes since the Estrada plunder case is a historic event.

Video cameras, with the exception of NBN-4’s mounted video camera, are not allowed inside the Sandiganbayan courtroom, as are cameras. Reporters are allowed to cover the proceedings, but are expected to observe proper court decorum.

Villa Ignacio told reporters that they will ask the court to allow cameramen and photographers to have a five-minute photo opportunity before the ocular inspection starts.

Government prosecutors have alleged that the mansion was bought using funds from Estrada’s alleged Jose Velarde account.

Defense lawyers claim it is not owned by the former president, but consistently blocked moves to inspect the mansion. They said the title should be enough evidence to show who the real owner is.

The Sandiganbayan, however, shot it down, emphasizing that it is a court of law mandated "to administer justice impartially regardless of time, environment and consequences."

The anti-graft court added that "it harkens to no voice but the truth and obeys only reasons founded on justice."

The Sandiganbayan justices also wondered why the defense panel insisted on not pushing through with the Boracay mansion’s inspection, when its registered owner, St. Peter Holdings Corp., through its president Jose Yulo, did not object to the proposal.

"This argument waters down the defense position and makes the Court wonder why it is objecting to the ocular inspection. If the Boracay mansion is not owned by Estrada, why block the inspection which will pave the way to verifying and determining the actual condition of the mansion?" they asked in a resolution.

Meanwhile, the Sandiganbayan suspended the trial of the plunder case against Estrada yesterday to give way to the defense lawyers’ move to get a Supreme Court (SC) order stopping prosecutors from opening the bank account of Estrada’s son, San Juan Mayor Jose Victor "JV" Ejercito.

Nazario and two other justices, Edilberto Sandoval and Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, said the trial will resume on March 24 "unless" defense lawyers have secured a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Supreme Court.

"Without any TRO, the proceedings shall proceed," Nazario told both parties.

The Sandiganbayan’s special division ruled that it has to "balance the interests" of government prosecutors with that of Ejercito.

Estrada’s son, they said, is entitled to elevate to the Supreme Court the anti-graft court’s resolution, which paved the way for the testimonies of three bank officials that P182 million of Ejercito’s P300 million account in Export and Import Bank (EIB) went to Estrada’s alleged Velarde account.

Ejercito’s lawyer, former immigration commissioner Rufus Rodriguez, said opening the EIB account would cause "irreparable damage" to his client.