State prosecutor refuses to waive bank secrecy rights

A state prosecutor accused of receiving a P1.6-million bribe to dismiss a celebrated drugs case refused yesterday to allow the House of Representatives to look into his bank account.

In a letter to the House committee on dangerous drugs, State Prosecutor John Resado said he is not waiving his rights under Republic Act 1405, the Secrecy of Bank Deposits Law.

Ilocos Norte Rep. Roque Ablan, Jr., House committee on dangerous drugs chairman, said Resado was also invoking his constitutional right to privacy.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said he was informed that Resado had not waived his right to the secrecy his bank account.

Resado was not answering calls from reporters to confirm his decision.

On the other hand, Cebu Rep. Antonio Cuenco, House dangerous drugs committee vice-chairman, said Resdado’s decision means he is “hiding something.”

“That means he is afraid that his wrongdoings will be mabibisto (bared),” he said.

“We can’t pin him down on bribery because of the lack of witnesses.”

Cuenco said the committee on dangerous drugs will go after Resado “Al Capone-style” and hold him accountable for non-payment of taxes on his money-lending business.

“He did not get a permit (for his business), he didn’t report it in his statement of assets and liabilities, or his income tax return,” he said.

“There is no permit from the Central Bank for his lending business. And his business has been overcharging. The Supreme Court said the interest rates should not be more than 1.5 per cent per month.”

In the 1930s, American gangster Al Capone went to jail on charges of tax evasion after evading prosecution on racketeering and other major crimes.

‘P10 M to kill Santiago and Marcelino’

Director General Dionisio Santiago and his chief enforcer, Marine Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino, are the targets of hitmen, according to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

Superintendent Dionisio Bartolome, PDEA Intelligence and Investigation chief, told The STAR they have a received a letter stating that P10 million is being dangled for the heads of Santiago and Marcelino.

“The letter was sent by mail, he said.

“It was the IIS that informed us about it. The letter did not have a date but the envelope’s stamp from the Manila Central Post Office is dated.”

Marcelino said the letter contained computer-printed photographs of him and Santiago, and carried the return address Inland Corporation, No. 470 Solana Street, Intramuros, Manila.

“The photograph of Dionisio was a close up, mine was half body,” Marcelino said in Filipino.

The photographs appear to be the same ones that appeared in a newspaper recently, he said.

Marcelino said the letter sender spoke of putting up a multimillion- peso bounty for them because PDEA has been “destroying the reputation of respected people in society.”

His wife received an anonymous phone call yesterday morning with curses and death threats.

CA set to rule on habeas corpus

The Court of Appeals is set to rule on a petition seeking the release of Richard Bordett, Jorge Joseph and Joseph Tecson, the accused in the celebrated drugs case that led to charges of bribery against Resado and other justice department prosecutors.

The CA’s Special 13th Division has refused to take into consideration the issue of the attempt to have Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez sign the draft order for the release of the three drug suspects before the lengthy Christmas break.

“We won’t go into that,” Associate Justice Monina Zeñarosa said when government lawyers tried to raise the issue in yesterday’s hearing. “That is not the matter here.”

In the 2 p.m. hearing, Assistant Solicitor General Eric Panga tried to ask Felisberto Verano, lawyer of Brodett and Tecson, if he would admit before the court his reported admission that he was the one who prepared the draft order for the release of the three drug suspects using a letterhead of the DOJ.

But Verano refused to answer the question, saying it has no relevance in the case being heard.

The justices agreed with Verano. – With Delon Porcalla, Michael Punongbayan