THE Office of the Ombudsman has been granted permission by the Sandiganbayan to adopt the deposition of former consul to the Philippine Embassy in Berne, Switzerland Lilibeth Pono as her testimony in the $2 million unexplained wealth case of former Justice Secretary Hernando “Nani” Perez.
The anti-graft court’s ruling swept aside the objections raised by businessman Ernest Escaler, a co-respondent in the case, who asked that the deposition be expunged from the records.
Government lawyers said that as a consul at the Philippine Embassy in Berne, Switzerland in 2012, Pono issued a certificate of authentication covering documents related to the Ombudsman’s inquiry into the paper trail of alleged undeclared bank deposits of Perez, including sums that went into two accounts at EFG Bank SA in Geneva, Switzerland 22 days apart in March 2001.
The case, docketed as SB-14–CVL-0002, was filed before the anti-graft court in 2014 seeking forfeiture in favor of the State of unlawfully acquired properties under RA No. 1379.
It stemmed from an investigation into the alleged $2 million cash paid by the late Manila congressman Mark Jimenez, a.k.a. Mario Crespo, to Perez in February 2001 in exchange for his exclusion in a plunder indictment of deposed President Joseph Estrada.
Escaler was named a co-respondent in the case alleging undeclared bank deposits of former Perez, his wife Rosario, and brother-in-law Ramon Arceo.
Based on the complaint, the Office of the Ombudsman said Perez failed to disclose a $1.7 million fund transfer that went into his bank account courtesy of Escaler.
Pono authenticated the note verbale dated September 10, 2012 from the Federal Office of Justice of the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police, and certified that Ruth Egger was the authenticating official of the Swiss Federal Chancellery before whom the annexed instrument “Certificate of Swiss Authority Executing a Request for Documents” was executed.
The Ombudsman pointed out that Pono is now the Philippine Ambassador to Qatar, that she has been in the foreign service since 1997, and that her statements were based on direct knowledge of the documents she was asked to identify since she was a consul assigned at the Philippine Embassy in Berne in 2012.
Escaler tried to block the deposition, saying Pono’s deposition was merely hearsay due to lack of personal knowledge.
He likewise invoked the privileged nature of the matters discussed in Pono’s deposition, saying these should be excluded by law.
Moreover, he challenged the authority of Consul Gerardo Abiog of the Philippine Embassy in Berlin, Germany to take Pono’s deposition, saying he was disqualified for being an employee of the Republic of the Philippines which is the petitioner in the case.
The Sandiganbayan, however, denied Escaler’s opposition with a motion to expunge for lack of merit.
“Consul Abiog’s act of taking the deposition of Ambassador Pono was an official act; hence, the same enjoys the presumption of regularity which may only be overcome by clear and convincing evidence to the contrary,” the court declared.
At the same time, it held that the subject of the answers of Pono in her deposition and her cross-interrogatories are not beyond her personal knowledge or perception.
“(T)hese actions of Ambassador Pono were well within her defined duties and responsibilities as the former Consul of the Republic of the Philippines in Berne, Switzerland,” it pointed out.
The Sandiganbayan likewise warned Escaler’s lawyers for trying to revive their arguments on the disqualification of Consul Abiog, noting that the issue had already been discussed and rejected several times.
“The resurrected claim of the counsels of the respondents that Consul Abiog is disqualified to administer the deposition despite its earlier repeated rejection by the Court already borders on contemptuous conduct,” the Sandiganbayan said.
