Chavit tags Bong Pineda in Erap’s jueteng racket

Suspected gambling lord Rodolfo "Bong" Pineda is a major player in the jueteng protection racket of former President Joseph Estrada, the government’s main witness in the plunder trial of the jailed leader said yesterday.

In his seventh court appearance, former Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson told the Sandiganbayan special division that Pineda handled the collection of jueteng protection money for Estrada in at least 10 provinces, including Laguna, La Union, Pampanga and Pangasinan.

Under cross-examination by Estrada’s court-appointed counsel Prospero Crescini, Singson said that every time he encountered problems with the collection of jueteng money for the former president, it was Pineda who helped him find a solution.

For the first time, the former governor also directly implicated in the racket former Tourism Undersecretary Orestes Ricaforte, who is married to Estrada’s alleged jueteng auditor and accountant, Yolanda Ricaforte.

"Mr. Ricaforte asked me to let him arrange the jueteng collections for Mr. Estrada in Iloilo, but it did not materialize," Singson said. He told the defense counsel that he did not have any documents to prove his allegation.

The witness said that Estrada’s son, former San Juan Mayor Jinggoy Estrada, also interfered in the collection of protection money in Mindoro, where a close friend, a certain Reyes, was the collector.

Singson pointed out that among the provinces covered by the racket, Bicol was the most problematic.

"Bicol was our biggest headache because the former president’s collector there, Presidential Assistant for Bicol Affairs Anton Prieto, used to issue bouncing checks. Also his payments were sometimes late," he said.

When asked by the defense if he had receipts to prove that Prieto had indeed delivered the checks, Singson replied: In a transaction such as jueteng, we do not issue receipts."

Singson said Estrada, with the help of co-accused Charlie "Atong" Ang, had been collecting jueteng protection money in Bicol even when he was Vice President and chief of the defunct Presidential Anti-Crime Commission.

Apart from Pineda, Singson named several other collectors for Estrada, namely: Celso de los Angeles, Jessie Viceo, Romy Lajara, Charing Magbuhos, Mayor Sanchez of Batangas and his own brother Bonito Singson.

The former governor said he asked his younger brother to help in the collection in Ilocos Sur whenever he had difficulty doing the task.

Meanwhile, Assistant Ombudsman Dennis Villa-Ignacio said the prosecution panel has decided to defer the filing of plunder charges against Pineda, Prieto and other persons named by Singson.

"We have momentum in the presentation of evidence against Estrada. We don’t want to lose this so we will attend to the filing of plunder charges as part of the second wave," he said.

No link to Erap

The Partido ng Masang Pilipino said yesterday the prosecution panel failed to establish Estrada’s alleged connection with illegal gambling despite the presentation of the jueteng "ledgers" of principal accuser Singson.

"Mr. Estrada’s court-appointed defense team said the so-called ledgers convincingly prove that Singson was deep in his neck in involvement in illegal gambling," the PMP said in a statement.

Summarizing the result of his cross examination of Singson, Crescini said if at all, the ledgers would be useful to the government in prosecuting Singson for violation of Republic Act 1602, the law on illegal gambling, and not Estrada.

The ledgers, according to Crescini, proved among other things that Singson was responsible for the collection of jueteng protection money and their distribution to various government officials, in particular then chief of the Philippine National Police Roberto Lastimoso.

Crescini was also able to prove that it was Singson who incurred operational expenses for the operation, such as the salaries of his jueteng employee Emma Lim and his driver who were the usual recipients of jueteng money being delivered at his LCS Building in San Andres, Manila.

Singson also admitted that all the jueteng collections were kept at the vault at his office or deposited to his personal account at the Makati branch of Metrobank.

"Singson claimed that the money from jueteng were delivered to Estrada, although he has so far failed to present any proof, other than his own statement, to back up his claim," the PMP said.

Informed of the result of the hearing, Estrada’s spokesman Raymond Fortun reiterated their call on President Arroyo to also personally file criminal charges against Pineda for illegal gambling to show her resolve in stamping out all forms of criminality.

"For at least a third time now, Singson, before a court of law, has named Bong Pineda as a gambling lord. We dare Mrs. Arroyo to throw the full weight of the law on her kumpadre to show there is really no sacred cow in her administration," Fortun said.

He also expressed the hope that given the turn of events, the members of the special division hearing the cases of Estrada would be able to see through the false testimonies of Singson, who the defense claimed is only out to save himself from possible indictment and further endear himself to Mrs. Arroyo.