Government moves to get ‘Boracay mansion’

The government has begun moves to seize a controversial mansion in Quezon City and a vacant lot in Makati that deposed President Joseph Estrada allegedly acquired using ill-gotten wealth.

The Office of the Ombudsman, which is prosecuting the ousted leader on plunder charges, said Justice Secretary Hernando Perez and Solicitor General Simeon Marcelo have moved to reclaim the so-called "Boracay mansion" in New Manila, Quezon City and the lot at North Forbes Park that Estrada gave to his daughter Jacqueline and son-in-law Manuel Lopez as a wedding gift.

Requests have been made to the registers of deeds in Quezon City and Makati City to annotate the titles of the two properties, indicating the government’s desire to seize them, the Office of the Ombudsman reported.

The two pieces of property, bought in November 1999 and February 2000, were allegedly acquired by Estrada using millions of pesos from the proceeds of the illegal numbers game jueteng.

The properties were brought into the open during the historic but aborted impeachment trial that led to the popular uprising which toppled Estrada and installed President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to power in January this year.

Other properties the Ombudsman is looking to seize are those in the Tagaytay Highlands; in Green Meadows, Quezon City; in Wack Wack Subdivision in San Juan; and in the Marina area facing Manila Bay.

Ombudsman Aniano Desierto said the government wants to foil any moves by Estrada or any of his men to sell his properties.

Private prosecutors have warned the public against buying Estrada’s properties, particularly the vacant lot along Buendia street at North Forbes Park in Makati City.

Lawyer Arno Sanidad, who is a part of the private prosecution team helping the Ombudsman, said the 3,000-square-meter lot worth P80 million is allegedly being sold by one bank to a certain Ricky Delgado.

"We are warning the people against buying questionable properties brought up during the impeachment trial. Anybody who buys these properties will be buying them in bad faith," he said.

Sanidad noted that the lot is being offered to Delgado since he owns a property right beside it.

Prosecutors have sent Delgado a letter informing him of the government’s claim over the Estrada property. They explained that the property was acquired from the Bank of Commerce with the use of funds from the controversial account of Jose Velarde in Equitable PCI Bank.

Equitable PCIBank executives testified during Estrada’s trial that the leader himself opened the Velarde account by signing his name as Jose Velarde.

Estrada has vehemently denied the claims. He is now in detention and will be soon be tried for plunder, a crime punishable by death.

Aside from the real properties, the Ombudsman is also seeking to recover some P20 billion Estrada allegedly stashed in different banks under fictitious names.

Several groups claimed Estrada had kept secret accounts in Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Bank of Commerce, United Coconut Planters Bank, Asia United Bank, Urban Bank, i-Bank, PS Bank and Metrobank.

They said the former president had unlawfully transferred millions of funds to his mistresses and associates.

The government, through the Bureau of Internal Revenue, has ordered the freezing of Estrada’s $3 million joint account with his wife, Sen. Luisa Ejercito, in Citibank.

Saguisag assailed on plea vs Badoy

Meanwhile, prosecutors assailed Estrada’s lawyer Rene Saguisag for his petition to prevent Justice Anacleto Badoy from presiding over the plunder case against the former president.

In their Aug. 14 response to Saguisag’s motion, the prosecutors branded as cowardly and whimsical the petition for Badoy to inhibit himself from the case because his brother, Solomon Badoy, had accepted a presidential appointment in government.

They added that the petition was nothing but a ploy to harass Badoy who chairs the Sandiganbayan’s Third Division.

"If such wild speculation would be the test measure for the inhibition of court magistrates, it will wreak havoc on the administration of justice," the prosecutors said.

"If Attorney Saguisag really thinks of himself as an uncompromising crusader, then he should also ask for the recusation of Justice Francis Gachitorena whose wife Vicky is likewise a presidential appointee and a close friend of President Arroyo."

The prosecutors also said that Saguisag’s "loose logic" should also extend to other justices of the anti-graft court who were appointees of Estrada.

"Voluntary inhibition is based in incapacity to dispense justice with fairness and objectivity, and not from peripheral matters like possible gratitude or potential benefits," they said.

The STAR tried to reach Saguisag for comment but he was not immediately available.