Anti-graft court considers new panel to try Estrada

The anti-graft court Sandiganbayan is considering the formation of a new tribunal to continue the trial of former president Joseph Estrada on charges of plunder, a ranking magistrate said yesterday.

The trial of Estrada on charges of violating the Anti-Plunder Law, is currently being handled by the Third Division of the five-branch Sandiganbayan.

The Third Division is currently suffering from a lack of judges after its presiding magistrate, Anacleto Badoy, went on unscheduled leave last month for health reasons while another justice, Ricardo Ilarde, went into retirement.

"This is a unique case in a sense that the Third Division is now only composed of one judge – Teresita de Castro – instead of three. Under this circumstance, the Sandiganbayan has powers to form another tribunal to try Estrada's plunder case," Sandiganbayan Associate Judge Narciso Nario said.

The Supreme Court yesterday called an urgent meeting specifically to tackle the issue of forming a new tribunal for the Estrada case.

The Estrada plunder case is taking its toll on the magistrates handling the case. Even seasoned trial judge Badoy was compelled to take a rest from the 'psychological rigours' of handling the case.

Plunder, which local law defines as the commission of a series of criminal acts that enable the offender to amass more than $49 million, is punishable by death.

Aside from Estrada, his son Jinggoy, is co-respondent in the case and both are currently detained at a government hospital in Manila.

The Estradas are being accused of various offences in connection with the plunder case, in particular the pocketing of P275 million taken from a provincial development fund; the acceptance of millions of pesos in protection money every month from illegal gambling operators; and taking kickbacks from profits in shady investments using public funds.

Estrada's defence lawyers, led by Jose Flaminiano, said they had no problems with the proposal for the Sandiganbayan to set up a special division to handle the plunder case. However, they will study the proposal further and wait to see who will preside over the trial.

According to Nario, the new tribunal will likely be made up of judges who are not scheduled for retirement in the next two years to avoid a similar problem. "The members of the Special Division will also have to be acceptable to the prosecution and defence," the magistrate added.

Nario also said that the Third Division, in the meantime, will continue to hear the Estrada plunder case as long as there is no-ruling issued by the Sandiganbayan on an earlier appeal by defence lawyers to transfer the case to another branch.

Estrada lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court last year to transfer the case to another Sandiganbayan branch as they pointed out that the Third Division's presiding judge, Anacleto Badoy Jr., is currently on furlough.

Yesterday, the Third Division held hearings on one of several cases compounded under the plunder charge. The court heard the testimony of businessman Willie Ng Ocier, one of Estrada's many associates in the business community.

Ocier is chairman of Belle Corporation, a stock brokerage firm where the state-owned pension firm Government Service Insurance System allegedly invested a huge sum of its funds on the behest of Estrada.

Estrada allegedly pocketed hefty commissions from that transaction.