Erap pardon may be revoked
The government may revoke its grant of pardon to former President Joseph Estrada if he makes good on his threat to resist “till death” the forfeiture of his assets, worth P545 million, by the Sandiganbayan.
Acting Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera gave the warning yesterday as she pointed out that the forfeiture of Estrada’s assets was a condition for his pardon.
“The matter is beyond the executive department already. What comes after that (pardon) is to be addressed by the Sandiganbayan,” Devanadera told reporters at Malacañang.
“The pardon has to be taken in its entirety. It cannot just be in parts. It should be complete,” she added.
“The forfeitures have to be implemented and that is now the function of the prosecutor and Sandiganbayan to have the forfeitures implemented,” she stressed.
But Estrada said he is just as determined as Sandiganbayan Sheriff Ed Urieta to stop the seizure of his property, which he claims he acquired before he became president.
Devanadera noted that the Sandiganbayan has already determined Estrada’s assets for forfeiture, although she agreed that these should not include those acquired when he was not yet president.
“But let us first see if there will really be a violation,” she added.
She pointed out that Estrada accepted the conditions of his pardon when he signed the document.
“Conditional pardon, to be effective, must be accepted by the one being pardoned. I’m just surprised because he already signified his acceptance and conformity to those terms when he signed the very document,” she said.
Defiant
A defiant Estrada said the Sandiganbayan may carry out the forfeiture “over my dead body.”
“If he (Urieta) is determined, I am also determined. I told him that I am ready to fight because I acquired these properties through my perspiration that is why I am ready to fight for them till death,” Estrada told dzMM’s Ted Failon and Korina Sanchez.
In a separate interview with dzBB, Estrada dared prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio to send him again to jail.
“I worked as a movie actor, I invest and it is not right that they will just take them without showing any basis that I stole these properties,” Estrada said. “Let them try. I am the one who is on the right side.”
Estrada said the Sandiganbayan special division should first act on his motion to quash the writ of execution for the forfeiture of his properties before enforcing the forfeiture.
“I never used my presidency to acquire properties. The Sandiganbayan must act first on my motion to quash. They cannot just implement the writ of execution for the forfeiture of my legally acquired properties without resolving my motion to quash first,” he said.
Urieta said that he would first go after Estrada’s vehicles and apartment units in Cubao,
“I told him (Urieta) to wait for the decision of the Sandiganbayan on my motion to quash. He should not rush things. I am always ready to follow the law,” he said. “I became president because I followed the rule of law. They are the ones who did not follow the rule of law.”
Estrada said that even former Supreme Court justice Bernardo Pardo, in a legal opinion, said that before it could implement the forfeiture, the Sandiganbayan must show a notice of forfeiture and that a forfeiture order should specify the property being readied for seizure.
“They should be explained specifically, like the jueteng money in the Erap Muslim Youth Foundation. They can forfeit that anytime they want, including the Boracay mansion,” Estrada said. “They are harassing me too much. I was the only one that they convicted.”
He said he is pinning his hopes on the Supreme Court. “Well, of course that is the court of last resort. This is no longer about my acquittal. This is about the forfeiture of my legally acquired properties,” he said.
Estrada stressed that his legally acquired properties were registered in the name of his family, like his house on Polk street in North Greenhills, San Juan City, his family corporations, his rest house in Tanay, Rizal where he was detained while on trial for plunder.
“The corporations were under the name of my children for a long time. I acquired the Tanay rest house even before the time that I became mayor of
Estrada also denied allegations that he was hiding his vehicles. “All of my vehicles are here in my house. I am not hiding them. They are all registered in my family’s corporation. They can see in their registrations that I acquired them before I became president,” Estrada said.
Prosecutor dared
Estrada told Joel Reyes Zobel of dzBB that he’s not afraid to go back to jail if only to protect his family’s property.
“Let them bring me back to jail, besides they already jailed me and stole the presidency from me. But they cannot just confiscate all my legally acquired properties,” Estrada said.
Estrada was reacting to Villa-Ignacio’s warning that he would be sent back to his Tanay rest house if he attempts to stop the seizure of his assets.
Estrada said that he is not claiming ownership of the Boracay mansion and the P200 million jueteng money deposited by former Ilocos Sur governor Luis “Chavit” Singson in the account of the Erap Muslim Youth Foundation.
“I don’t claim ownership of anything that’s not mine. If they want to confiscate the Erap Muslim Youth Foundation fund, they can confiscate them anytime. If they want to confiscate the Boracay mansion, they can confiscate it anytime. They are not mine anyway,” he said.
“But I pity the Muslims who are beneficiaries of the foundation because they will be deprived of the privileges that they got from it,” Estrada said.
He claimed that he didn’t steal anything from taxpayers and that he didn’t even draw his salary when he was
“They are on a fishing expedition. I acquired all my properties legally because FPJ and I invested heavily during our days as movie actors,” he said. FPJ refers to the late actor Fernando Poe Jr., who challenged Mrs. Arroyo in the 2004 elections.
He said he turned down then Justice Secretary Hernando Perez’s offer for him to leave the country to escape prosecution “because I am not guilty of corruption.”
“I did not leave the country, unlike what Jocjoc Bolante did, because I have not committed any wrongdoing and I did not steal anything from the government coffers,” Estrada said. Bolante was a former agriculture undersecretary who was involved in the fertilizer scam.
No deal on pardon
Sen. Jinggoy Estrada said his father and the Arroyo administration had no agreement regarding the asset forfeiture when he was granted executive clemency.
“There was no agreement. With all due respect to Malacañang and President Arroyo, we did not strike any deal with Malacañang,” Jinggoy said.
“We will fight for this until it reaches the Supreme Court. We are not violent people. We don’t have a family history of killing people… that is only in the movies,” he said when asked how far his family is willing to contest the forfeiture.
Spare Polk mansion – Miriam
Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, a legal expert, said the court is empowered to seize Estrada’s assets – even those not in the original order – but not the Polk mansion.
“That’s a family home, and a family home is one of the first exemptions. The family home is sacrosanct in law but the other properties like cars, and (estate) outside of Metro Manila, anything in the name of the person involved, can be forfeited,” Santiago explained.
“There is no question on the legality of that action (forfeiture) as long as the order of attachment remains on record. That is to say, it has not been reversed or appealed. That is the standard procedure,”
“Under the Rules of Court, there were exemptions but under the general rule, if the properties identified by the court are not sufficient, then it can go against other properties,”
On the Estrada camp‘s position that the Court cannot forfeit properties acquired by the former president when he was still in show business, Santiago said it is up to his lawyers to justify the exemption of the properties from forfeiture. - With Christina Mendez
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