Erap’s P1-M bond no guarantee he will return — gov’t lawyers

It’s no guarantee.

Government prosecutors fear that ousted President Joseph Estrada could still evade prosecution, even if he posts a P1-million bond, if he is allowed to travel to the United States for knee surgery.

In seeking a reversal of the Sandiganbayan’s Dec. 23 ruling, special prosecutor Dennis Villa Ignacio said it was "too risky" for the court to have permitted Estrada to undergo surgery at Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto, California.

"The irrefutable assumption, based on sheer logic and human experience, is that any person faced with life imprisonment or death would willingly forgo with all the possessions to gain freedom or life; hence, bail of any amount does not guarantee against flight from jurisdiction," he said.

Villa Ignacio said Estrada might not return and seek political asylum abroad if action star Fernando Poe Jr. loses in next May’s presidential elections.

This is the "first time" in Philippine jurisprudence that a defendant in a non-bailable case has been allowed to travel abroad without having to file a petition for bail, and to undergo surgery in the US when Filipino doctors can do the surgery here, he added.

Villa Ignacio said the government is ready to bring the case to the Supreme Court if the special division does not reverse its ruling.

"We will ask for a temporary restraining order from the SC," he said. "This is too much."

Estrada’s promise to return and submit himself to the Sandiganbayan’s jurisdiction is "irrelevant" since a person charged with a capital offense and whose case is non-bailable cannot just leave for abroad, he added.

Meanwhile, defense lawyers asked Justices Minita Chico-Nazario, Edilberto Sandoval, and Teresita Leonardo-de Castro to allow just two police guards to escort Estrada to the US and let him choose the police officers who will accompany him.

Retired Sandiganbayan presiding justice Manuel Pamaran, one of Estrada’s court-appointed lawyers, said they made the request to minimize the expense of Estrada, and for the number of police guards "not to be too bothersome."

The special division has ruled that Estrada should be escorted by four police guards to the US, and that he would have to shoulder the expenses for their travel and stay in the US.

The police escorts would be held accountable for whatever happens to Estrada, and they would have to be with him all the way.