Maceda spokesman of ‘reformed’ Erap, ha-ha - GOTCHA by Jarius Bondoc

JV Ejercito slipped. While papa Joseph Estrada feigned ignorance of a Jose Velarde bank account before ducking out of sight for four days, JV virtually confirmed family knowledge of its existence when he told newsmen the P500-million deposit is "legitimate money."

JV did offer the excuse that the money was deposited by daddy’s pal Jaime Dichaves. But coming as it did in the wake of Equitable-PCIBank executive Clarissa Ocampo’s testimony that Estrada signed "Jose Velarde" nine times on bank papers just a foot away from her, JV’s line limped. He only showed his dad’s ability at play-acting.

One of Estrada’s defense lawyers tried to blunt the political damage from JV’s loquacity. He claimed on radio having overheard during one of many client calls that the money was raised by several presidential friends as a kitty of sorts, but that he wasn’t sure now, so he still has to ask Estrada about it.

Enter political ally Ernesto Maceda, floating what he thought was a clever line. The P500 million and the P1.2 billion from where it came, he whispered to friends, are actually excess contributions to Estrada’s 1998 campaign. He then went on radio to claim: "The President doesn’t own the accounts. There’s absolutely no government money, no jueteng money, no dirty money involved."

How Maceda will make it wash is an interesting study in political-legal maneuvers at which he’s adept. Undeclared campaign contributions carry a 12-year prison term under the Omnibus Election Code. But the aim is to get Estrada off the hook of corruption charges. His lawyers can claim that breach of election laws isn’t in any of the four articles for which he’s impeached. They can worry about a Comelec case later.

What was it that Lincoln said? To become a successful liar, you have to have a really good memory.

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Throughout the impeachment trial recess, Estrada’s lawyers went on a media offensive to belittle Ocampo’s damning testimony. Harping on technicalities, they said that prosecutors still have to prove that the P500 million was ill-gotten, and that Estrada’s use of an alias isn’t part of the articles of impeachment in the first place.

The law is clear, though. Any public officer whose wealth is disproportionate with his official and declared income must prove that it’s not ill-gotten. This, notwithstanding the ruling of Chief Justice Hilario Davide on the tiring last day of trial before the 11-day break, which is still subject to reconsideration. Too, the use of an alias is a crime in itself. That’s why, no matter how Estrada propagandists distort the press statement of the hapless Banko Sentral Gov. Rafael Buenaventura, it is included in the Revised Penal Code.

The lawyers were not content, though. Outside the courtroom, they also tried to demolish Ocampo’s credibility by citing unnamed "sources in banking circles" as saying that Equitable-PCIBank officers forced Ocampo to testify. They cried that she broke the Bank Secrecy Act by bringing along documents that weren’t subject of subpoenas.

Well, they have yet to produce the sources who supposedly prattle about forced testimony. That is, if millions of people who watched the free and relaxed demeanor of the witness will believe that line. And the bank papers were under subpoena duces tecum, meaning all-encompassing, just that the lawyers want the public to believe that Dichaves, not Estrada, is the alias user. Sadly for them, the bank knows who the Jose Velarde it’s dealing with, and he’s not Dichaves but Estrada.

So desperate were the lawyers that they even lied that Ocampo was so biased – I thought they said she was forced – because she’s related to congressman-prosecutor Bobby Tañada’s wife. The line backfired when chief prosecutor Sonny Belmonte revealed that it’s defense lawyer Estelito Mendoza who’s somehow related to Ocampo by affinity. But that’s not the best of it. More interesting was how Siegfried Fortun later tried to deny on radio ever knowing that his brother Raymond Parsifal had come out with the unfounded Tañada-Ocampo connection.

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Desperation showed most in Malacanang when Estrada suddenly tapped Maceda as impeachment trial spokesman. Aspiring presidential spokesman, Press Undersecretary Mike Toledo, was so surprised with the appointment that he couldn’t hide his own disappointment. Toledo had thought that, with Press Secretary Dong Puno’s resignation, the job was his for the taking.

Impeachment complainant Rep. Sonny Alvarez could only chuckle at the appointment. "A case of the politically discredited handling the politically dead," he said. But why Finance Secretary Jose Pardo went out of his way to convince Maceda, first to take on the job of resigned Executive Secretary Ronnie Zamora, then the spin doctor’s role, is more surprising.

Pardo has been claiming that Estrada is a changed man. He says the man no longer parties the night away with cronies, and reports for work early nowadays. He even has a political-PR program to present an image of Estrada as a sincere Catholic president. And yet he helps get a trapo – the dirty-rag Filipino coinage for traditional politician who represents everything that’s wrong with the system – as a "reformed" Estrada’s spokesman. Ha-ha. Who’ll believe now that Estrada ever changed?

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INTERACTION. Miko Nepomuceno, edsamail.com: We, members of PCIBankers Club of PCIBank retirees, are proud of and support fellow-PCIBanker Clarissa Ocampo for courage and professionalism in testifying that Jose Velarde is Erap. Documents don’t lie. She upheld our policy "to report to higher authorities anomalies done by a superior or subordinate, no matter who gets hurt."

Rene Ranossa, Washington, DC: We admire the thorough documenting of ongoing shenanigans by Erap men (Gotcha, 27 Dec. 2000). Lethal injection is too light for them. Cabinet men who remain should be slapped with the RICO Act.

Mar Gatmaitan, surfshop.net: Narvasa, Mendoza, et al. can still be the best lawyers if they rise above themselves and not treat the impeachment trial as just another case to be won on mere technicalities.

Jose Llacuna Jr., super.net: The rigged MMDA bidding is nothing new in RP (Gotcha, 25 Dec. 2000). Whatever happened to the World Bank-prescribed Post Qualification Bidding System? A classic case of garbage in-garbage out.

Rey Sanchez, prodigy.net: Please expose more such crony deals. James S. Cruz, edsamail.com: Twelve days into the impeachment trial (Gotcha, 23 Dec. 2000), it’s clear beyond reasonable doubt that Erap is guilty, but will be acquitted by senators. Ople, for one, still claims the prosecution has failed to link Erap to jueteng.

Rey Diquiangco, Calumpit, Bulacan: Deficit spending will worsen the economic ruin by the end of the impeachment trial. Whoever will lead us after this must: (1) trim the bureaucracy by merging related agencies and firing casuals hired through political patronage, (2) cut the number of officials with a unicameral legislature and smaller local boards.

Fr. Emmanuel Menguito, Divine Word Seminary, Tagaytay: Erap’s trial is also a test if Filipinos will still tolerate evil. Corruption, a form of evil, has become part of our system, as if that’s the way it is. Yet evil must be fought.

Loreto Rosales, sympatico.ca: Penalty for perjury should be rigid, so the likes of Dichaves will not make a mockery of the law (Gotcha, 20 Dec, 2000).

Boyet Abalos, San Jose, Ca.: I wrote you before that retirees are unable to get SSS pensions because of risky investments. Now it turns out that these include Equitable-PCIBank, an obvious political maneuver. They won’t get away with it if they did that here in the US.

Ariel Rabe, amstd.com: My study of graphology, considered a pseudo-science, helps me learn and confirm hidden tendencies of individuals, especially in my work of hiring and evaluating workers (Gotcha, 18 Dec. 2000). For signatures to be positive, strokes must not be higher or lower than the imaginary borders. In Dichaves’s signature, too many strokes cover the point of origin, indicating many negative tendencies. In Erap’s, strokes break the borders, indicating high sexual appetite and emotionalism.

Msgr. Ramon Aguilos, Palo, Leyte: Davide says prosecutors must prove that the P500 million amassed by Erap in two months (of 2000) is ill-gotten. I’m no lawyer, but simple logic tells me that when an official’s wealth is unexplained, it means people (represented by the prosecution) are helpless in explaining how he can have P500 million from a monthly salary of P50,000.

Thank you, Godofredo Robes, Lorri Aldana, Babes Cristobal, Joey Legarda, Tom Achacoso, Joey Tandoc, Jack Santos, Timms Choy, Dennis H. Goddard, Ayen Mendoza, Rogel Nuguid, Darth Nader, Hanzel Leano, Devino Garcia, Mar del Jack, Eduardo de la Cruz, Steve David, Danile Manalo, Ricky Abarca, Pepeton J’anton, Vic Zapanta, Erwin Celestino, E.C. Ibazeta, Alex Macauyag.

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