Who is Jose Valhalla? - FROM A DISTANCE by Carmen N. Pedrosa

As I write this column, I am interrupted by friends calling to say that they are fearful for the fate of Erap’s impeachment trial in the Senate. It may be that but the time you are reading this column, what I say here will have been overtaken by decisions made in Friday’s hearing. The legal skirmishing between the defense and prosecution panels is about a check signed by a certain Jose Valhalla from an account in Equitable-PCIB in Juan Luna, Binondo and allegedly paid to Erap friend and crony Jose "Sel" Yulo. The funds would in turn purchase "Boracay", a multimillion-peso mansion in New Manila allegedly owned by Erap. They say there is a danger that the entire trial might be scuttled by this thorny problem. The bone of contention is whether the Jose Valhalla check is material to the impeachment case against Erap. The prosecution does not only think it is material, they also believe it is central to the impeachment case. The check and other information on the account from Equitable-PCIB are evidences that the prosecution claim would link Erap to the paper trail of jueteng payola to hidden and proxy accounts and finally, to the multimillion peso mansions of his family and mistresses. The defense panel, on the other hand, is blocking the opening of the Equitable-PCIB deposition because Erap’s lawyers claim that the Jose Valhalla check is not material to the impeachment charges. They regard the check as new material and the introduction of new materials means the charges are being amended.

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Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. as presiding judge of the Senate Impeachment Tribunal is in the unenviable position of resolving the two irreconcilable positions. There is talk that whichever way he decides, there would be trouble for the legal proceedings with the defense panel allegedly threatening to walk out of the trial if the Equitable-PCIB deposition is opened. I say, let them walk out. But open the Equitable-PCIB deposition anyway to reveal Jose Valhalla. It is sad that the chief legal counsel of Erap, former Chief Justice Andres Narvasa, has cockily proclaimed that there is no evidence directly linking Erap and, therefore, he expects an acquittal. What this means is the legal proceeding now taking place in the Senate is futile, ineffective as a way of resolving the issue of whether or not Erap should be impeached.

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In one report Chief Justice Davide was quoted as saying that the issue of "relevance and materiality is of supreme importance." He added that he may want the truth but a liberal interpretation of the rules does not mean that the rules of the court should be disregarded. The question is whether the rules of court are in fact being disregarded in this case. Some people do not think so. I agree with them. Most people will agree that what we have here is a difference of opinion on the materiality of the Jose Valhalla check. The prosecution panel claims it is and the defense panel argues it is not. Indeed Narvasa et al. are moving heaven and earth to stop the opening of the Equitable-PCIB deposition. Even the most rabid pro-Erap partisan will have to admit that there must be something about Jose Valhalla that will hurt the defense of Erap that is why it is being blocked. However Justice Davide decides on the issue, for or against the prosecution, the fact is the trial has reached the moment of truth and that truth can only be revealed by Jose Valhalla.

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In a way, Erap has already been impeached in the minds of millions of Filipinos who have watched the Senate trial since day one. Former Chief Justice Narvasa may say what he wants, that there is no "evidence" linking Erap to the jueteng paper trail. Chief Justice Davide may rule not to open the Equitable-PCIB deposition and decide that Jose Valhalla is not material or relevant to the impeachment case. No matter. The people know who Jose Valhalla is. They had hoped that an impeachment trial would bring out this truth. They were willing to give an impeachment proceeding a chance so it can be said that Filipinos understand constitutional governance. They were willing to go through the impeachment proceeding as intended by the Constitution. But if the impeachment court makes it impossible to know who Jose Valhalla is, then the people were wrong to have placed their faith in such a proceeding. It is my opinion that the materiality of Jose Valhalla to the impeachment case can only be proved or disproved by opening the Equitable-PCIB deposition. Therefore, Chief Justice Davide in the interest of truth should allow it to be opened now. As soon as possible. But if the court accedes to the defense panel and blocks the opening of the documents from Equitable-PCIB, then it will have acted contrary to the intent of the Constitution with regard to impeachment proceedings. It would have placed "legality" above the interest of truth which is improper in a political exercise such as the impeachment of a president.

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The dispute on whether Jose Valhalla is material to the impeachment charges is a legal question, a technicality according to the rules of court. The substance of the issue is the answer to who Jose Valhalla is. We must distinguish between the legal procedure to identify Jose Valhalla and the truth on who Jose Valhalla is. The procedure may be a matter of legality but not the identification of Jose Valhalla. That is the truth. If we are never to know who Jose Valhalla is, then the impeachment tribunal will have failed in its duty and will have plenty to answer for not just for this case, but for all the ages. The court will have to bear the responsibility for having allowed a legal technicality to get in the way of finding out the truth, as it was feared by the Constitutional Commissioners in 1986. I hope that this is not the case. Otherwise the people will have the right to assert the highest form of their sovereignty in another forum to stop once and for all this charade of government.

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Those who are on the trail of Jose Valhalla have discovered some interesting leads. A friend was frantically trying to find out whether Erap had a brother named Jose and whether I knew anything about the brother who died in the US. One text message said Erap’s brother had worked in a hospital called Valhalla. In fact, he didn’t. Erap’s brother who died in March last year was Emilio Ejercito, Jr. Erap went to the US for his funeral. Incidentally this was about the time that corporations allegedly linked to Erap and his family were registered. Erap’s brother was a medical doctor. There is speculation that the hospital where he worked was in Valhalla, close to the border of Hudson, New York. In fact, there was no need to look for a brother named Jose. Jose is the Spanish equivalent of Joseph if a link is to be made between Jose Valhalla and Joseph Estrada. They have the same first name in different languages. It is the Valhalla connection which is a bit more difficult.

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There is a Valhalla Securities registered with the SEC which reportedly owns the Tagaytay Highlands log cabin. It is also alleged that Erap is one of the directors. It is also talked about that Erap rather likes the initials ‘JV’ which are the initials of his son with Guia Gomez who is also a director of Valhalla. Is it the case of a father wanting to emulate his son? Still. This does not answer who Jose Valhalla is. What about, this inquisitive friend persists, if Erap was driving around at the time of his visit to New York for his brother’s funeral and got enamored with the name Valhalla as he passed by on his way to his brother’s house and/or workplace? I don’t know. There are three hospitals in Valhalla and in the vicinity of his brother’s home and workplace. The most interesting of these hospitals is the Behavioral Health Center in Valhalla, New York but at press time we could not pin down the connection. There is also the Westchester County Medical Center. Enough. Open the Equitable-PCIB deposition and be done with it. Let the people know whether Jose Valhalla and Jose Ejercito a.k.a. Joseph Ejercito Estrada are one and the same person. Do not let the country suffer just because of this mysterious Jose Valhalla.

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