Bong Pineda a no-show at Erap trial

A suspected jueteng lord summoned as a defense witness in ousted President Joseph Estrada’s plunder trial failed to show up at the Sandiganbayan yesterday.

The anti-graft court had ordered Rodolfo "Bong" Pineda to appear in court yesterday and tomorrow.

Retired Manila fiscal Jose Flaminiano, one of Estrada’s lawyers, said he was not sure if Pineda could be presented in tomorrow’s hearing.

"I don’t know where he is," he said. "I’m not sure if I could present him in the next hearing. But the court has issued a subpoena."

Pineda’s testimony would have been "very significant" because he would have contradicted the statements of Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson that he had delivered jueteng money from Pineda to Estrada, he added.

Instead, Pineda submitted an affidavit to Rep. Mayo Almario, House of Representatives committee on games chairman, in which he swore that he knew nothing about jueteng.

Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa Ignacio said he does not expect Pineda to show up at tomorrow’s hearing either, in light of "persistent rumors" that he had already left the country.

"We heard from the grapevine that he has already left the country," he said. "But we still have to check with immigration if he has, indeed, left for abroad."

In Pineda’s absence, the defense presented as a witness yesterday Hilario Ragunjan, the lawyer who had notarized the suspected jueteng lord’s affidavit.

But Villa Ignacio said Ragunjan’s testimony was "irrelevant," since he would merely state that he had notarized the affidavit Pineda had submitted to Almario.

"There was nothing significant accomplished" by the Ragunjan testimony, he said. "The witness even admitted that he has no personal knowledge of the contents of the (Pineda) letter."