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Estrada’s hacking claims vs Luy ‘absurd’ – gov’t lawyers

Buena Bernal

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Estrada’s hacking claims vs Luy ‘absurd’ – gov’t lawyers
Prosecutors oppose Senator Jinggoy Estrada's motion to suppress as evidence the digital files that state witness Benhur Luy copied from alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles

MANILA, Philippines – Government lawyers labeled as “absurd” the attempt of detained Senator Jinggoy Estrada to block evidence implicating him in the pork barrel scam by accusing state witness Benhur Luy of committing hacking and illegal access to obtain them.

In their opposition filed on Monday, October 27, against Estrada’s motion to suppress as evidence Luy’s digital files, prosecutors told the anti-graft court that the senator has a “penchant for selectively quoting jurisprudence without regard to its proper context and rationale.”

Luy’s files contain names of lawmakers who allowed the misuse of their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel so they could financially gain from it.

The list includes Estrada, who allegedly got P183 million ($4.10 million)* in kickbacks from Luy’s former boss and alleged PDAF scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles.

Estrada argued that Luy’s access to the ledger constituted “hacking” and “illegal access” of files owned by Napoles’ company, JLN Corporation. Luy subsequently surrendered to authorities his 500-gigabyte external hard disk drive containing the information.

Estrada’s camp argued that these were criminal offenses under the E-Commerce Act and Cybercrime Prevention Act, and that the warrantless seizure of the files make them inadmissible evidence. (READ: Luy a ‘criminal’ for exposing PDAF files – Estrada)

But the prosecutors said Estrada had no legal standing to invoke the alleged privacy rights violation, as he is not the owner of the files but the JLN Corporation.

They argued that Luy’s access to the files was not a “warrantless seizure” because they were copied to his own storage device with the consent of his employer at the time of the transfer. 

Even with Estrada’s “empty threats” against Luy over his potential criminal liability, the prosecution said the witness is immune from criminal prosecution over the PDAF scam. Surrendering the disputed digital files was part of his duty, given the conditions set for his admission as state witness.

They said Estrada’s arguments were “utterly misplaced” and the jurisprudence he cited was “taken out of context.”

The section Estrada cited in the Cybercrime Prevention Act was also among those declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, the prosecution added.

The anti-graft court cannot reject the disputed evidence because there has yet to be a “prior” ruling on the criminality of its acquisition. There is even no criminal case to speak of, the prosecutors said.

Estrada is currently detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center over plunder and graft raps before the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan Fifth Division.

 

Bail hearing

In the continuation of Estrada’s bail hearing Monday morning, prosecutors were still visibly pissed off in court for the repeated objections of the defense counsels.

Mary Arlene Balthazar, another state witness and Napoles’ former bookkeeper, testified that she saw Estrada attend various social gatherings hosted by Napoles.

These included death anniversaries of Napoles’ mother Magdalena Luy-Lim from 2009 to 2012, her husband Jaime Napoles’ birthday around September 2010 or 2011, the JLN Corporation’s anniversary between 2009 and 2011, and the birthday of Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) executive Teresita Panlilio in a year she failed to mention. 

She said among the lawmakers who transacted with Napoles based on her personal handling of documents needed for the government’s release of the funds were: senators Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr, former Congressmen Prospero Pichay Jr (Surigao), Zenaida Ducut (Pampanga), Rodolfo Plaza (Agusan del Sur), Rizalina Seachon-Lanete (Masbate), Edgar Valdez (APEC), and Samuel Dangwa (Benguet).

The plunder and graft cases against Lanete and against Valdez over the PDAF scam are already headed to court pending the final resolution of the Ombudsman. Graft, malversation, and direct bribery cases against Plaza and Dangwa are also set to be filed.

Rappler’s independent check found Pichay as among those whose kickbacks from the scam exceeded the P50-million plunder mark, based on state audit reports.

Ducut, an administration party ally now sitting as chair of the Energy Regulatory Commission, has yet to be indicted over the scam. 

Not afraid?

The Estrada camp, with veteran litigator Jose Flaminiano as lead counsel, has employed enormous legal elbowing in court to block and discredit Luy’s testimony. 

Flaminiano had tagged Luy as an unrepentant fabricator for having faked signatures on a scale he has never seen before in his 60 years of litigation experience. (READ: Tagged as fabricator, Luy breaks down in court)

Estrada’s lawyers have denied that their attempts to discredit Luy are driven by their fear over the weight of his testimony.

Luy had said he fabricated liquidation documents and forged signatures “upon the instructions” of his then boss Napoles, whose PDAF scam relied on the fabrication to show supposed implementation of her dummy foundation’s ghost projects.

Napoles’ former financial officer, Luy revealed the scam to authorities after being rescued from alleged illegal detention by his former boss. – Rappler.com

$1 = P44.79

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