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Estrada denies receiving check from gambling bosses

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December 15, 2000 

MANILA (UNB/AP) - Philippine President Joseph Estrada denied Thursday an accusation by the key witness at his impeachment trial that he accepted a check for 5 million pesos (dlrs 100,000) from illegal gambling lords.

"There is no truth to that," Estrada told reporters after distributing presents in a squatter neighborhood.

The prosecution's key witness, provincial Governor Luis Singson, testified Wednesday in the Senate trial that he collected payoffs from an illegal numbers game called "jueteng" for Estrada and regularly transferred funds to the president, either in cash or through bank checks. He said two presidential sons also received payoffs.

He produced a check and said it would prove the president accepted bribes from gambling bosses.

The check, made payable to "cash," was deposited in a bank account that appears on its back. Prosecutors did not immediately indicate who owned the account.

Singson's testimony, however, was placed in question Thursday after House Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella, a member of Estrada's LAMP party, notified the Senate that the 11 congressmen prosecuting the case had not been authorized to use a private lawyer to question Singson.

The prosecutors, all Estrada critics, were appointed under a previous House speaker who resigned from LAMP after Singson accused the president of corruption in October.

Singson said he channeled more than 400 million pesos (dlrs 8 million) in payoffs from jueteng and 130 million pesos (dlrs 2.6 million) from tobacco taxes to Estrada.

The governor, a former gambling and drinking pal of Estrada's, made the explosive allegations after the two fell out over the granting of a franchise for a legalized form of jueteng called Bingo 2 Balls to Singson's political rival in his province of Ilocos Sur.

In his testimony, Singson said Estrada decided to push the new game because the president would earn much more.

Singson showed a diagram he prepared indicating that Estrada would make about 165 million pesos (dlrs 3.3 million) monthly in the new game compared to only about 30 million pesos (dlrs 600,000 million) in jueteng.

If the Senate decides that the use of a private lawyer to question Singson was improper, it would void Singson's testimony and force new questioning by the congressmen, who are largely unaccustomed to trial duties.

Before any witness could be called Thursday, the sixth day of the trial, Estrada's lawyers questioned whether bank documents already with the Senate should be introduced as evidence.

Among the bank documents is a check for 142 million pesos (dlrs 2.8 million) allegedly used for the purchase of a large mansion in Manila used by one of Estrada's mistresses.

Philippine laws presume that properties acquired beyond a public official's means were acquired through graft.

Prosecutors claimed the check was issued by Estrada using an account with a fictitious name.

Singson's secretary, Carmencita Itchon, testified Thursday that a woman allegedly appointed by Estrada to audit the jueteng collections, Yolanda Ricaforte, made frequent telephone calls to the presidential residence and to Estrada's son, Jinggoy.

Ricaforte has denied working for the president.

Jinggoy Estrada, the mayor of San Juan, a town in metropolitan Manila, insisted Thursday that his family did not receive payoffs from jueteng and expressed confidence that his father will be acquitted.

"I deny that vehemently," he told DZMM radio.

Estrada is being tried on counts of bribery, graft, betrayal of public trust and violating the constitution. A guilty verdict by two-thirds of the 22-member Senate on any of the four counts would force Estrada from office.

Estrada said Thursday he is willing to testify but will leave the decision to his lawyers "because now I am just following my lawyers. Whatever they say I will follow."

The chances of Estrada testifying are considered remote. But presidential Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora told reporters that the lawyers are still considering whether Estrada should be placed on the witness stand, and said the decision hinges on how Singson holds up under cross-examination.

The trial has been delayed frequently by procedural disputes, and Senate President Aquilino Pimentel said Thursday he would propose holding morning and Saturday hearings to speed it up and ensure it can be completed by mid-January. The trial is currently being held five hours a day from Monday through Friday.

Many business, labor and church groups have called on Estrada to resign immediately to cut short the country's political crisis for the good of the economy, regardless of his guilt or innocence.

Armed forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes said Thursday he hopes there will be no violent street protests if Estrada is acquitted.

"We hope after the verdict, life goes on," he said.

But economists and political analysts predict financial markets would fall sharply and demonstrations persist if Estrada stays in power.