Estrada wants lawyer cited for contempt

Court-appointed lawyers of ousted President Joseph Estrada have asked the Sandiganbayan to declare in contempt Health Undersecretary Alexander Padilla for making it appear that he was still a government prosecutor when he cross-examined two witnesses.

Prospero Crescini, one of Estrada’s court-named counsels, said the Special Division would have to summon Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño, the cashiers and heads of personnel of the Department of Justice and Department of Health to find out if Padilla was still a prosecutor when he appeared in court on March 24 and April 9.

"We want to know from the (DOJ and DOH) on when and where did (Padilla) draw his salary," he said. "And from Zuño, whether Padilla was maintaining an office at the DOJ. Being Padilla’s immediate boss, he should know. That’s why we want the court to summon them."

Crescini, along with lawyers Manuel Pamaran, Noel Malaya and Irene Jurado, said Padilla fabricated a document when he antedated the letter of resignation he had submitted to Justice Secretary Simeon Datumanong.

"Padilla’s March 11 letter (to Datumanong) and onwards are fabricated," he said. "It was obviously an afterthought. You cannot defer an accepted resignation. You have to revoke it. He should make it clear if he is already a (DOH) undersecretary or still a prosecutor."

In a 10-page motion, the lawyers said the action of government prosecutors was one of "brazen dishonesty and contumacious misrepresentation," and they have "perpetrated a fraud, obstructed the administration of justice, grossly misbehaved and made a mockery" of the entire proceedings.

However, Padilla told the Special Division he received the letter of Datumanong accepting his Feb. 12 resignation only on March 25, a day after he had presented a witness.

The secretary was apparently not aware of his March 11 letter, he added.

Earlier, Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio told the Special Division that the prosecution was willing to forgo the testimonies of the witnesses presented by Padilla as they are not vital to the case against Estrada.

Government prosecutors had rested their case on April 9, a week before Lent.

Resumption of the trial was tentatively set for June 30 after the prosecutors have done their offer of evidence.

It would then be the defense’s turn to present evidence. –Delon Porcalla