Layers of deniability

Aides of politicians may see another cautionary tale in the legal woes of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada.

Last week the Sandiganbayan cleared Estrada of plunder involving his pork barrel, but convicted him of bribery along with pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles.

Estrada can continue to work as senator pending final judgment, according to Senate President Migz Zubiri. Meanwhile, Estrada’s former chief of staff and co-defendant Pauline Labayen remains on the run, unable to get her life back.

Ruby Tuason, who was social secretary of Estrada’s father Joseph Estrada during the latter’s aborted presidency, got off the hook on two plunder cases after turning state witness. Her testimony, however, failed to establish Jinggoy Estrada’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Senator Estrada tried to spin the case as a legal victory, and in a way it was; he was cleared of the heavier offense of plunder.

Still, getting up to 16 years plus perpetual disqualification from public office and being fined P3 million following his conviction for the lesser offenses of bribery and indirect bribery are no causes for rejoicing.

In the case of another accused pork barrel plunderer, the durable Juan Ponce Enrile, his ex-chief of staff and reported inamorata Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes stayed behind bars for nearly nine years, until her temporary release through a writ of habeas corpus, while he was allowed to post bail on humanitarian grounds after just over a year.

Like former first lady Imelda Marcos, who’s been out on a laughable P300,000 bail since 2018 after being convicted of seven counts of graft, Enrile was deemed by the courts to be too old and of frail health to be detained. But he’s fit enough to be chief presidential legal counsel of Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

You don’t need to search hard for proof that there are two systems of justice in this country: one for the .001 percent naghaharing uri, and the other for lesser mortals.

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Another accused plunderer in the pork barrel scam, Sen. Bong Revilla, was cleared by the Sandiganbayan, leaving his aide Richard Cambe to take the rap.

In April 2021, poor Cambe died of a stroke into the second year of serving his life term in the New Bilibid Prison. Meanwhile, not even a court order can compel Revilla to this day to return P124.5 million to the Filipino people.

The Sandiganbayan ruling on Estrada’s case is just as confusing as the one on Revilla. It must be among the reasons for Estrada’s optimistic take on the ruling: he thinks his conviction for lesser offenses is a step closer to full acquittal.

Estrada is wondering if one can be convicted of an offense for which a person wasn’t indicted. Lawyers seem to have different opinions on this.

The Sandiganbayan ruling said that while the evidence was insufficient to establish Estrada’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt for plunder, conviction for a lesser offense is possible under the so-called variance doctrine. The prosecution, the Sandigan explained, failed to establish that Estrada and Napoles directly benefited from the allegedly plundered public funds.

It’s also unclear if Estrada is suspended from public office, as an accessory penalty in his conviction, pending a final ruling on the case. Is he out on bail, like Imeldific?

A final ruling in this country can take 25 years. What’s the use of convictions and sentences that can’t be enforced?

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The confusing court ruling, however, is understandable, and reflects the difficulty of obtaining a conviction for a corruption-related offense in this country.

Signatures are rarely affixed to bribes, either by the giver or recipient. As in large-scale drug trafficking, where the bosses keep their distance from the illegal merchandise, corrupt officials know enough to employ layers of deniability and not to leave a paper trail when accepting payoffs.

Digital technology is supposed to make it easier to trace dirty money. But this is presuming that there are stringent procedures for identifying the real holder of the account through which dirty money is laundered.

Obviously, this is not the case in our country where images of monkeys and SpongeBob are accepted in the registration of SIM cards.

Those layers of deniability are usually provided by the aides of politicians.

The aides are typically educated folks – many are lawyers like Cambe and Gigi Reyes – who surely know a crooked deal when they see one. Some willingly go along with the criminal activities for personal gain – and the gains can be immense.

Others, however, may be unwilling participants in a corrupt activity. Maybe they are following their superiors simply because of a warped sense of loyalty. Maybe they are scared of the consequences if they refuse to go along. This fear is not groundless in this country where murder is a popular tool for eliminating enemies, critics and other threats to one’s political fortunes.

Such aides can document the foul deeds, even if only for their self-preservation in case the boss is caught and indicted. Digital technology has facilitated such documentation, which can be used in case the aide becomes a whistle-blower or turns state witness.

Seeing the fate that befell Richard Cambe, et al, people should bear in mind that in this country, when the manure hits the fan, it’s the aide who gets thrown under the bus.