MANILA – Cash and stock certificates worth the equivalent of about $1.2 million, which formed part of the unexplained wealth of deposed president Joseph Estrada, have been recovered from a private commercial bank, an official of the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court reported.
Edgardo Urieta, the Sandiganbayan chief sheriff, disclosed the amount, deposited in the “Jose Velarde” account of Estrada, was surrendered by officials of the privately-owned Banco de Oro on orders of the Sandiganbayan.
Urieta said he and his men did not have any problem claiming three checks and nine stock certificates valued at $1 million.
The Sandiganbayan forfeited the Jose Velarde account in favor of the government after ruling that this was part of the illegal wealth amassed by Estrada, the first sitting Philippine president to be convicted of a crime.
On September 12, 2007, the anti-graft court found Estrada guilty beyond reasonable doubt of plunder and ordered the forfeiture in favor of the government a total of $20 million in assets which it deemed as ill-gotten assets of Estrada when he served as president from 1998 to early 2001.
Estrada had claimed that the Jose Velarde account was actually owned by his friend, Filipino-Chinese businessman Dante Ang, who escaped abroad shortly after Estrada was deposed by the Edsa 11 People Power Revolution in January 2001.
The existence of the account came into the open when two bank officials testified that Estrada had signed it in the name of Jose Velarde when they called on him in Malacanang as instructed by their superiors.
The account also played a big role in the ouster of Estrada when his supporters during his impeachment trial in the Senate succeeded in blocking the opening of the envelope which was to establish the identity of the owner.
But in convicting Estrada, the Sandiganbayan ruled that Estrada was the “real and beneficial owner” of the Jose Velarde account and ordered its forfeiture.
Since Estrada’s conviction, the Sandiganbayan has ordered the forfeiture of other Jose Velarde assets like the Erap Muslim Youth Foundation and the “Boracay mansion” located in suburban Quezon City, Metro Manila.
Estrada is also popularly known as “Erap,” a moniker which his close friends have bestowed on him when he was an actor. On the other hand, the Boracay mansion was purchased by Estrada for his lover, former actress Laarni Enriquez, with whom he has three children, based on Sandiganbayan records.
Meanwhile, sheriff Urieta said the shares of stocks recovered would likely be auctioned off to meet the actual forfeited amount totaling close to $2 million, considering that their market value has increased.
Any money earned from the auction, which will be beyond the forfeited amount will be returned to the bank, Urieta pointed out.
In convicting Estrada for plunder, the Sandiganbayan emphasized he “took advantage of his official position, authority, relationship, connection and influence to unjustly enrich himself at the expense of and to the damage and prejudice of the Filipino people and the Republic of the Philippines.”
The court sentenced him to serve 20 to 40 years in jail, aside from ordering the forfeiture of his unexplained wealth.
But before Estrada could serve even one day in jail, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo granted him full and absolute pardon and restored his civil and individual rights, including the right to vote.
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