MANILA, Philippines – A co-accused of former justice secretary Hernando Perez in the $2-million extortion case filed by former Manila representative Mark Jimenez will be arraigned before the Sandiganbayan on May 15.
The anti-graft court has given permission to Ernest Escaler to fly to Europe for a five-week business trip, from May 20 to June 27.
Escaler is chairman and president of Philippine Interactive Audiotext Services, Inc. (PIASA), a call center firm that provides services to several foreign embassies; and Gourmet Farms Inc. (GFI), a company that exports agricultural and food products.
Escaler, along with Perez, his wife Rosario and brother-in-law Ramon Arceo are subjects of a hold departure order issued by two divisions of the Sandiganbayan handling other criminal charges against them.
In an 11-page urgent motion for permission to travel abroad, lawyers of Escaler assured the court that their client “has no intention to escape from this Court’s jurisdiction” as he even voluntarily posted bail.
Escaler was the first of the four accused to post bond on two criminal charges in relation to the extortion case.
He posted bail of P120,000 last April 21 even before any of the four divisions issued the arrest warrant against him and his co-accused.
Former Binibining Pilipinas Zorayda Andam, Escaler’s counsel, cited the case of businessman Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr. as legal precedent in the petition.
“In Cojuangco vs. Sandiganbayan, a criminal case involving public interest and ill-gotten wealth, the Supreme Court accepted, inter alia, the participation of the accused in the international operations of San Miguel Corp. as valid ground for eliminating the restrictions on said accused’s right to travel,” she said.
The SC had granted Cojuangco a “continuing authority to travel in and out of the Philippines without need of prior permission from the Sandiganbayan,” she added.
Andam said in running his businesses Escaler not only oversees the entire operations of PIASA in the Philippines, but that of PIASA in foreign embassies in Italy, Germany, Austria, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
“Because of this position, he is tasked to continuously liaise with representatives of the foreign embassies,” she said.
Andam said Escaler had already set a series of meetings with GFI’s various suppliers in Italy even before the criminal charges were filed by the Ombudsman before the Sandiganbayan last April 18.
Escaler’s itinerary shows he is set to leave Manila on May 20 for a 19-day trip to Paris and Lourdes in France, then to Vienna, Austria on June 8 before moving to Rome, Italy on the 13th. After seven days, the businessman is set to go to London before flying back home on the 27th of June.