Sandigan won’t amend charges vs Erap

An anti-graft court rejected yesterday a petition to amend a charge of perjury against ousted President Joseph Estrada in an effort to strengthen the case.

The Sandiganbayan court said government prosecutors can no longer amend the perjury case because Estrada was arraigned on that charge June 27.

Estrada, ousted in January over corruption allegations, faces three criminal charges, including perjury, the non-bailable capital offense of economic plunder, and illegal use of an alias in a bank account. He has been arraigned on perjury and plunder.

The perjury charge stems from accusations that Estrada misdeclared his assets in 1999 by excluding his interests in several companies.

Government prosecutors apparently committed an error when they earlier agreed that the abbreviation "e.g.," meaning "such as," be deleted at the end of a sentence where it was used to denote an undetermined number of companies where Estrada may have had undeclared assets.

The prosecutors later petitioned the court to restore it so they could add as many as 60 companies where Estrada allegedly hid assets.

Presiding Justice Francis Garchitorena rejected the petition, saying prosecutors can only cite the five companies listed in the perjury charge sheet when Estrada was arraigned.

Garchitorena ruled that the prosecutors should have clearly laid out the details of the charge so Estrada can answer the accusation appropriately.

"He has to know what he is going to jail for," Garchitorena told the prosecutors during a hearing.

Prosecutors said they would appeal. – Jose Rodel Clapano