Police should apologize to Loi, Palace says

Malacañang concurred yesterday that police authorities should apologize to opposition Sen. Luisa Ejercito and her children for linking them to the July 27 failed coup attempt.

In his daily morning interview in the state-run Radyo ng Bayan, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye reacted to statements made by Justice Secretary Simeon Datumanong that the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) has no case against the opposition senator and her two children for insufficiency of evidence.

Datumanong said issuing an apology to the family of deposed President Joseph Estrada "is the right thing to do."

"It is very clear that the Department of Justice (DOJ) really is impartial and acts on the basis of evidence submitted. In their findings of their evaluation of evidence, they were saying the case filed by our agency against the former first lady was weak," Bunye said.

"And if really there is no case, this should be discontinued and it is but appropriate that the investigators in this case should apologize to Senator Loi Estrada and her children," he said.

But in his daily briefing with Palace reporters later in the afternoon, Bunye abruptly clarified his statements over Radyo ng Bayan.

He said Datumanong was "quoted out of context" on the issue of apologizing to the Estrada family.

Bunye said he personally talked with Datumanong where the justice secretary clarified the statements attributed to him during a news conference at the DOJ last Thursday.

"I would like to make a clarification based on the clarification also by Secretary Datumanong and he said he was misquoted and because he was misquoted, so there is no basis for asking the (CIDG) to apologize," Bunye said.

"And he (Datumanong) said he was quoted out of context... The response is based on erroneous premise and since Secretary Datumanong has made the clarification, we would likewise adjust our response accordingly," he added.

Bunye said Datumanong pointed out that the DOJ prosecutors could not simply proceed with their preliminary investigation on the Estradas since the complainant, the CIDG, has not submitted supporting evidence to substantiate the criminal information they filed before the DOJ last month.

In a statement, Datumanong denied making the remark in saying that there is no evidence to link Senator Ejercito and her two children, Jude and Jackie Ejercito-Lopez to the July 27 coup attempt.

"It is not true that I issued a statement saying there is no evidence to link Sen. Luisa Ejercito and her two children to the July 27 coup attempt," Datumanong said.

"I was only made to react to a remark that the CIDG should at least apologize to Senator Ejercito if there is no evidence to which I said and I quote, ‘tanungin natin ang CIDG, nasa kanila ‘yon’, (ask the CIDG, it’s up to them)," he said.

Bunye said the DOJ is only awaiting additional records of the case. "And based on these additional records, the DOJ will act accordingly," he said.

"So he (Datumanong) categorically denied saying that the evidence presented (by the CIDG) is weak but is waiting for certain records to be submitted," Bunye said.

He refused to say if the government would eventually apologize to the Estradas if the CIDG fails to deliver the required evidence from them by the DOJ.

"Let’s cross the bridge when we reach it. It’s very difficult to respond to speculative questions," Bunye said.

On Aug. 28, the CIDG filed charges of rebellion against the Estradas before the DOJ, stemming from the ownership of the vehicles used by rebel soldiers in the failed July 27 coup attempt.

The three were charged along with Presentacion Ejercito and Genova de la Fuente, all incorporators of JELP Corp. with address at the Estrada residence on No. 1 Polk St., North Greenhills, San Juan.

Senator Ejercito denied the accusations saying the government is engaging in a "witch hunt" in trying to link her husband to the coup attempt.

Reached by The STAR yesterday to comment on the issue, Estrada said: "Okay, they can go ahead (file the case)."