Evidence points to Estrada as owner of Boracay mansion
Danny chan
Ownership of a mansion in Quezon City has taken center stage at the impeachment trial of Joseph Estrada. Government prosecutors allege the Boracay mansion, a palatial P142-million estate in the city’s New Manila district, was owned by the deposed president and was purchased with illicit proceeds given by gambling operators to Mr Estrada.
Prosecutors brought forth the charges following the discovery of several pieces of evidence found during a three-hour tour of the sprawling complex last month; they also requested that the Sandiganbayan seize the home.
The inspection of the 7,400-square-meter mansion yielded a 15-by-14 foot rug with “Pres. J. Estrada” printed on the attached delivery sticker; a furniture-locator slip bearing the name Laarni V. Enriquez, Mr Estrada’s alleged mistress and the residence’s principal occupant, printed on the paper; and a class schedule of Jerika Larice Ejertico, their daughter. The government-inspection team seized the three pieces of evidence, later described by prosecutors as the giveaway that the edifice belonged to the former president.
"Dennis Villa Ignacio, the chief special prosecutor, pointed to the evidence as concrete proof that Mr Estrada was the proprietor of the estate.
This is the end of the line for Erap (Mr Estrada). This is the house of Laarni. This is real evidence. This is proof that Estrada owns this,” Mr Villa Ignacio said. Arno Sanidad, a private prosecutor, depicted the sticker on the rug as “our smoking gun.
But defense lawyers repudiated the evidence, asserting the incriminating sticker found beneath the cream-colored rug could have been “planted” by the prosecution.
How did they (the prosecutors) know that it was Erap’s? Maybe it was given to him. Was there any (title) showing that he owns it? The main question here is still the real ownership,” Manuel Pamaran, the lead defense attorney, told the court. He further revealed to reporters that Ms Enriquez indeed “rented the house” and that the Presidential Commission on Good Government could corroborate this assertion. Prospero Crescini and Noel Malaya, lawyers for the defense, brought attention to a circular-shaped stain on the underside of the rug that did not spread to the adjacent sticker; evidence, they concluded, that the sticker may have been affixed much later.
The March 19 visit, which included lawyers from both sides as well as Sandiganbayan justices, revealed a glimpse into Mr Estrada’s opulent lifestyle. Included in the house are four main bedrooms with wall-to-wall carpeting and climate-control systems, as well as a smaller fifth chamber believed to serve as a guest quarters. The structure also boasted a Jacuzzi, gold-plated faucets and glass paneling.
Defense attorneys had mounted a last-minute challenge to prevent the inspection but the anti-graft court denied the motion due to insubstantial evidence. The Boracay mansion is among five homes allegedly amassed by Mr Estrada through business contacts during his presidency. The buildings were allegedly purchased with jueteng payoffs, prosecutors have charged.
