A police security escort of former Ilocos Sur Governor Luis "Chavit" Singson yesterday said he collected a total of P16 million in jueteng protection money from suspected Central Luzon gambling lord Rodolfo "Bong" Pineda and another P899,000 from former San Juan Mayor Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada on four occasions between 1999 and 2000.
Testifying as the 29th prosecution witness, SPO2 Vicente Amistad said he went to Pineda’s house in North East Greenhills, San Juan twice in 1999 to collect P7.75 million and P5 million, respectively, upon Singson’s orders.
Amistad told the Sandiganbayan Special Division trying the plunder case against former President Joseph Estrada that it was Pineda’s brother, Romy, who handed the money to him in a transparent plastic bag the first time he went to the Pineda residence.
The witness added that this collection was repeated sometime in 2000, when he was again ordered by Singson to pick up money amounting to P3.25 million from Pineda.
"I was met by Romy Pineda at the gate of Bong Pineda’s house. He (Romy) gave me the money, which (was) in bundles and contained in a transparent plastic bag," Amistad said.
The witness added that Romy had him sign a receipt."I did not mind getting a copy of the receipts that I signed everytime I collected money from Pineda. I also only learned that the money was jueteng money when Governor Singson had his press conference against former President Estrada," Amistad said.
The police officer added that in November 1999, he was ordered by Singson to pick up a package from Jinggoy’s office in San Juan municipal hall.
After talking with Jinggoy within the former San Juan mayor’s office on the second floor of the municipal hall, Jinggoy instructed him to go to the front of the municipal hall building.
Amistad said he was followed by an unidentified bodyguard of Jinggoy and a package wrapped in newspaper was handed to him on the stairs of the San Juan municipal hall.
Amistad said he did not open the package he received from Jinggoy’s bodyguard and returned to Singson’s office at LCS building and gave the package to the former governor.
The witness also told the court that he was called by Singson into the office and was scolded by an irate Singson. "I was told by Governor Singson that the money (in the package) was short by P101,000 because it was only P899,000. ‘(expletive deleted) you’re not counting the money, it’s short,’: Amistad said.
He added that Singson then called up Jinggoy and told him that the money he handed over to Amistad was short by P101,000 and that it could have been pocketed by his jueteng collector source or his security detail.
"The following day, Singson told me that the P101,000 was returned by Jinggoy to him," Amistad said, adding that he earned "P1,000 additional allowance for doing such errands for Governor Singson. I felt relieved when I was informed by (Singson) that the shortage was already returned to him."
During the cross-examination by defense lawyer Prospero Crescini, however, Amistad admitted that it was Singson who ordered him to get the money, not Estrada. He also said that he did not collect directly from Jinggoy.
Crescini said Amistad’s testimony has not established a direct link to either Estrada or Jinggoy, because neither the ousted president nor his son gave Amistad money or took money from him personally.
"This clearly shows that (Estrada) has no knowledge of Singson’s illegal activities and it was Singson, all along, who benefited from these jueteng collections," Crescini said.