Luy a ‘criminal’ for exposing PDAF files – Estrada

MANILA, Philippines – State witness Benhur Luy breached confidentiality and committed a criminal act when he provided authorities access to the digital files of his former boss and alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles.

This was the argument raised by detained Senator Jinggoy Estrada in a memorandum to the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan on Monday, October 20, as he sought to suppress as evidence the digital files listing the names of lawmakers like Estrada who Napoles transacted with and the amount of their kickbacks through the years. (READ: ‘Napolist’ frenzy reignites Luy-Baligod tussle)

Estrada said in his memorandum that Luy is guilty of “hacking” as well as illegally acccessing the “computer-generated” files of the Napoles-owned JLN Corporation. These criminal acts are punishable under the the E-Commerce Act of 2000 and the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, he said.

Estrada’s memorandum prompted the court to suspend Monday’s scheduled hearing.

“What he encoded belongs to the corporation of JLN [Corporation], and he only copied these files from the computer of JLN…. it is unlawful for him to introduce evidence without the permission or the consent of the owner of the files,” explained Estrada’s lawyer Alexis Abastillas-Suarez in a chance interview.

In 2012, Luy copied the files to his 500-gigabyte external hard drive from a computer in the JLN office as back up. He submitted the hard drive to the National Bureau of Investigation upon his rescue from alleged detention under Napoles.

Luy’s disclosure of his boss’ elaborate ploy led to the revelation of the biggest corruption scandal in the country in recent years, consequently increasing public clamor for greater transparency in the use of public funds.

Immune from suit

Justice Undersecretary Jose “JJ” Justiniano, an Ombudsman-deputized prosecutor, said public interest outweighs the confidentiality of company files.

He also argued in open court that Luy is immune from criminal prosecution by virtue of his admission as a state witness by the Ombudsman.

Luy’s ledger shows Estrada gained P183 million from the scam. The scheme involved Napoles giving millions to lawmakers in exchange for their endorsement of her dummy foundations as recipients of their PDAF for projects that remained unimplemented.

Laws cited

Justiniano finds the defense’s objection against Luy’s testimony on the digital files problematic.

“Even if you look at the definition of hacking under the E-Commerce Act, it will not apply to a court testimony, because for it to exist, the purpose must be to corrupt, alter, steal, or destroy computer files,” he said in a text message.

Justiniano was pertaining to Section 33 of the law, which defines hacking or cracking as an “unauthorized access into or interference in a computer system/server or information and communication system” but adds it is “any access in order to corrupt, alter, steal, or destroy.”

On the other hand, the constitutionality of the Cybercrime Prevention Act was upheld by the Supreme Court only on February 18, 2014. Its implementation was temporarily halted by the SC a month after it was signed into law in September 2012. (WATCH: Cybercrime law constitutional – SC)

First Division ruling

The reliability of Luy’s files has previously been disputed by defense lawyers before the Sandiganbayan First Division, which is hearing the plunder and graft cases of detained opposition senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. (READ: Luy testimony inadmissible, defense lawyers argue)

In Revilla’s bail hearing, the 1st division proceeded to admitting the evidence in court. (READ: Benhur Luy’s hard drive pre-marked as evidence)

It later on allowed the defense full access to the files while in a controlled environment – in court or at the NBI Cybercrime Division. (READ: Court grants Revilla access to Luy’s hard drive, but…)

The court, however, restricted them from copying the files in full, to protect Luy’s privacy and prevent the unnecessary compromise of ongoing state investigations into other issues of fund misuse. – Rappler.com