Ex-justice chief pleads not guilty to charges of falsifying public documents

MANILA, Philippines – Former justice secretary Hernando Perez pleaded not guilty to charges of falsification of public documents during arraignment before the Sandiganbayan yesterday.

The anti-graft court’s third division rejected Perez’s petition that his arraignment be suspended pending resolution of separate motions to consolidate the falsification charges with three other cases pending with the other divisions.

Perez denied charges that he failed to declare $1.7 million in his wife’s bank account in his 2001 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALN) in violation of law.

Perez wants all four cases consolidated into a single information or charge sheet to make it easier for him to prepare his defense.

Lawyers of Perez tried to convince the justices that suspension of his arraignment on falsification of public documents was necessary since the other divisions might rule in favor of consolidating the four cases.

However, third division chairman Associate Justice Francisco Villaruz Jr. ruled that the arraignment could proceed without prejudice to the motion to consolidate the cases.

“We can rule on the motion to consolidate cases even after arraignment,” he said.

The court has set the pre-trial hearing of the falsification charges against Perez on Aug. 29.

Meanwhile, Perez told the anti-graft court’s second division handling the robbery/extortion charges against him that he has been facing difficulties in appearing at the four different cases.

“It’s very, very difficult for me. I work in Batangas and I’m required to come here in all four cases,” he said.

Associate Justice Edilberto Sandoval, second division chairman, said Perez indeed had the right to seek consolidation as his convenience and welfare should also be considered.

Perez’s argument that the cases have the same witnesses holds merit, he added.

However, the prosecution opposed the consolidation on grounds that they would try to present different witnesses in all four cases during pre-trial.

In an interview after the hearings, Perez, a lawyer, said he is likely to counsel for himself in the oral arguments before the court.

“I should be the one who should argue the case since it’s my honor that is at stake here,” he said.

Perez said the charges against him would be weak if the prosecution fails to bring Jimenez to the witness stand.

“Without Mark Jimenez, there is no case,” he said. “I know it’s difficult for the prosecution.”

Records showed that Jimenez transferred $2 million on Feb. 23, 2001 to an account in a bank in Hong Kong.

The money came from Trade and Commerce Bank, Cayman Islands through the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York, according to prosecutors.

The Office of the Ombudsman said the Perez couple’s declaration that the funds were proceeds of the sale of their property was inconsistent with an earlier claim by Perez’s wife that the money was a family inheritance.

The money trail showed “united, concerted and coordinated acts of unlawfully taking the money of Jimenez, indicating a working conspiracy” among the accused, the anti-graft agency added.

Perez is also charged with two counts of graft and robbery/extortion in other divisions of the Sandiganbayan.

He has been arraigned on one count of graft and of robbery/extortion.

All four cases arose from the charges filed by former Manila congressman Mark Jimenez before the Office of the Ombudsman that Perez had extorted $2 million from him.

Jimenez later withdrew the charges, but the anti-graft agency nevertheless filed the four cases against Perez before the Sandiganbayan.