PNP wants Erap detained in Rizal permanently

The Philippine National Police (PNP) has asked the Sandiganbayan that deposed President Joseph Estrada’s place of detention be transferred permanently to a military camp in Rizal.

In making its request, the PNP cited an "imminent" threat to Estrada, who has been detained at Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC), a military hospital in Quezon City, for more than two years.

Estrada was moved to Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal last Thursday because of "terrorist threats" in connection with the visit today of US President George W. Bush.

"The intention is to bring about a more permanent detention because Veterans Memorial Medical Center is not a detention facility. We have no other available facility. Tanay would be the better facility," Chief Superintendent Doroteo Reyes, legal director of the PNP, told the anti-graft court.

"I can’t give details, but there is an imminent and, in fact, actual danger to the former president."

Reyes said the permanent transfer is not related to Bush’s eight-hour visit.

Prosecutors opposed the move, saying no threat seemed imminent.

"We feel there is no such imminent danger. There is no extreme urgency. We ask that Estrada be returned to VMMC and maintain the status quo. Camp Capinpin would not be the best secure place of detention for him," chief prosecutor Dennis Villa Ignacio said.

Villa Ignacio cited an earlier statement from the PNP’s intelligence chief, Chief Superintendent Arturo Lomibao, that "there is actually no specific threat on the life of the ex-president."

Deputy prosecutor Robert Kallos said no threat was apparent because the PNP was able to file a request on Wednesday seeking court permission to move Estrada to Tanay, a day before the former actor was transferred without a court order.

Villa Ignacio added that detaining Estrada there permanently "may give the impression that there is an arrangement that the accused can stay in his villa, which is adjacent to the camp. All you have to do is cross the road."

Reyes said the PNP would not allow Estrada to stay at his villa. "We will not risk our career for that. There is no such thing. We have never considered that. We are professional custodians."

"When that thing happens, then you file the necessary motion," presiding justice Minita Nazario told the prosecutors.

The defense, meanwhile, has made no objection, saying it will allow their client to take walks without posing a security risk. PNP officials said with Estrada inside a military camp, it would allow them to cut back on security costs.

Prosecutors accuse Estrada of amassing more than P4 billion during his 31-month rule and stashing the proceeds in a secret local bank account during his 31-month presidency. Estrada denies the charges.

Theoretically, Estrada could get the death penalty if convicted.

Estrada maintains he was illegally ousted from the presidency in 2001 and still has parliamentary immunity and, therefore, has no need to present evidence to dispute charges against him.

The Supreme Court erred when it swore in then vice president Gloria Arroyo after the tribunal declared the presidency vacant during the January 2001 military-backed popular uprising that toppled him, he said.

Estrada had asked Congress in June to impeach eight Supreme Court justices, including Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., for allegedly playing partisan politics to legalize his ouster.