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By Jomar Canlas, Reporter
The Sandiganbayan ruled with finality favoring
the government’s right to compel lawyer Jesus Disini to testify
against his cousin and a known Marcos family ally, Herminio Disini,
to litigate the estate of the late President Ferdinand Marcos.
The Sandiganbayan First Division ruled that the
Office of the Solicitor General and the Presidential Commission on
Good Government should be allowed to compel Jesus Disini as the
state’s last witness for the Marcos estate after 21 years of
litigation.
The government is seeking P50-billion worth of
damages, including P1 billion in litigation expenses, as well as
forfeiture of all ill-gotten assets.
In the ruling of the anti-graft court, it junked
Jesus Disini’s argument where he invoked his 1989 immunity
agreement with the Presidential Commission on Good Government or
PCGG, that limited his testimony only to litigations abroad. The
court overruled his claim that he is disqualified from testifying
under the attorney-client confidentiality rule, noting that he was
not a legal counsel of his cousin.
The Sandiganbayan affirmed the state’s right
to call the witness to affirm his two affidavits under oath wherein
he admitted to having personal knowledge that Marcos secretly owned
two-thirds of Herdis Group Inc., a private company founded by
Herminio Disini.
The Sandiganbayan explained that “the court
finds no indubitable grounds to reverse its resolution. It appears
that even the High Tribunal has not seen the urgent necessity
alleged by movant Atty. Disini to warrant the issuance of the TRO
[temporary restraining order] and suspension of proceedings
herein.” Citing this reason, the court denied Jesus Disini’s
motion for reconsideration.
The Sandiganbayan also warned against attempts
to block the lawyer’s testimony.
The presidential commission has accused Herminio
Disini of receiving $17 million in kickbacks from Westinghouse
Electric Corp., the American firm contracted to build the
$2.1-billion Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. Herminio Disini also
allegedly received another P1 million from Burns and Roe, which
designed that power plant.
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