Dong Puno tells Sandigan Erap had anti-gambling policy

Ousted President Joseph Estrada tried to stamp out jueteng in 2000 and had backed the anti-jueteng campaign of then Philippine National Police chief and now Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a former Cabinet member of Estrada said yesterday.

Testifying before the Sandiganbayan yesterday, former press secretary Ricardo Puno said reporters had asked him in one of his regular press briefings in Malacañang about Estrada’s stand on illegal gambling.

"The context has to be (The STAR) article itself," he said.

"It was probably a question asked in a briefing. I was probably asked if the President backs the general (Lacson) in his (anti-jueteng) drive, to which I said he did."

Puno, a STAR columnist, was summoned by the court on a motion of defense lawyers led by former senator Rene Saguisag to testify on a news article that appeared in The STAR on June 17, 2000.

In that article, Puno was reported as having held a press conference at Malacañang the previous day where he reiterated the anti-jueteng policy of Estrada.

Asked by Estrada’s lawyer, retired Manila fiscal Jose Flaminiano, about Estrada’s anti-jueteng policy, Puno said he only knows that Estrada had a "declared policy" against jueteng. "All I can say is, the policy of the President (Estrada) then was to fight illegal gambling. That was his declared policy," Puno said.

However, Puno’s testimony was dismissed as "irrelevant "by Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa Ignacio after Puno admitted in open court that he had no knowledge about whether Estrada’s policy against jueteng was implemented by law enforcement agencies.

"I do not know," he said. "At that time, as press secretary, we were not monitoring the jueteng situation."

Villa Ignacio and Saguisag again clashed in open court over the apparent failure of the defense to reveal the number of its remaining witnesses.

Villa Ignacio told Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, special division chairwoman, that the prosecution panel could not submit its comments to the court until the list of witnesses for Estrada was complete.

Saguisag countered that the defense can only submit a partial list of witnesses at the moment as they are having a difficult time convincing witnesses to stay. — Mike Frialde