Senate defers visit to mansions

Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., the presiding judge in President Estrada’s impeachment trial, blocked prosecutors’ bid to search the homes of Mr. Estrada’s alleged mistresses for evidence but summoned an aide of the Chief Executive to testify on Thursday.

Davide ruled yesterday that summons for presidential adviser on Bicol affairs Anton Prieto as well as former Philippine National Police chief Deputy Director General Roberto Lastimoso may be issued for their appearance on the day stated by the prosecutors.

The 11-man prosecution panel from the House of Representatives want the two to give evidence on Thursday on the bribes Mr. Estrada is accused of receiving from illegal gambling lords.

Davide also ordered Yolanda Ricaforte, wife of a senior tourism official who was named by Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson as Mr. Estrada’s personal auditor, to take the stand on Thursday.

Prosecutors charged she delivered more than P400 million in bribes to a presidential charity.

But Davide denied authorization for prosecutors to photograph and videotape the interiors of the President’s private home, three suburban Manila houses allegedly occupied by his mistresses and a mountaintop resort villa in Tagaytay City.

Rep. Sergio Apostol (Lakas, Leyte), one of the prosecutors, argued the "appearance and layout" of these houses were material to allegations by prosecution witnesses that couriers of gambling bosses delivered bribes to Mr. Estrada at these addresses.

However, Davide said he would rule on the motion only "in the course of the testimony" of those who said they witnessed the bribes’ delivery.

Mr. Estrada’s lawyer, former Solicitor General Estelito Mendoza, opposed the prosecutors’ request, branding it "irrelevant and intended purely for harassment and probably propaganda" purposes.

He said the Bill of Rights in the Constitution proscribes searches of private homes except with court order.

Apostol replied that only the owners of the houses in question could invoke the Bill of Rights. "Since they (Mr. Estrada’s lawyers) are objecting, there is an implied admission, your honor, that they own these houses," he contended.

Apostol told reporters earlier that the prosecution would not be calling President Estrada himself to the stand. "Our witnesses are sufficient," he said.

The Senate rejected prosecutors’ request to take oral depositions from several possible witnesses ahead of the trial.

Prosecutors said this would help establish the paper trail of bribes and embezzled taxes which the President allegedly laundered through the banking system.

But Mr. Estrada’s lawyers argued the process was unnecessary. "None of these witnesses are about to die or about to leave the Philippines," Mendoza argued.

At Malacañang, Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora said the prosecutors’ motion to inspect the alleged presidential mansions was a tactic to inject issues that were not included in the impeachment complaint.

"What the prosecution panel is trying to do is to sneak these mansions in and therefore invoke the question of materiality. That is just a tactic," he said.

He also believed that this is just a ploy to embarrass the President.

For his part, Press Secretary Ricardo Puno Jr. observed that the prosecution is apparently trying to include Mr. Estrada’s properties in the impeachment complaint.

"If the prosecution really feels that these mansions were important, why did they not include it in the impeachment complaint?" he asked.

"Apparently, the prosecution was in a hurry" in filing the impeachment case, he added. – With Marichu Villanueva