Ex-Estrada adviser cleared of graft

The Sandiganbayan has acquitted a former adviser of former President Joseph Estrada of graft charges stemming from his acquisition of a parcel of land in Zamboanga City.

In a nine-page resolution, Associate Justice Francisco Villaruz Jr. said prosecutors failed to prove the guilt of Le Peng Wee, Estrada’s former adviser on Mindanao affairs, as well as his brother, Wee Lee Hiong, and Region 9 registrar of deeds Susana Braganza Muin.

The case stemmed from Muin’s issuance of a deed of absolute sale and deed of exchange for a 12.9-hectare agricultural land to the Wee brothers, which prosecutors claimed violated the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL). — Jose Rodel Clapano