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FORMER President Joseph Estrada’s camp said that it is useless to
revive the perjury case against the former president for he was
already acquitted by the Sandiganbayan and served the sentence in
prison.
According to Atty. Jose Flaminiano, lawyer for
Estrada, the Special Division of the anti-graft court has already
concluded the perjury case, ruling that Estrada is innocent.
Flaminiano said that while the other perjury
case which the prosecution is planning to revive has a different
case number, the elements of the crime and the defenses are anchored
on one and the same line.
He said that even if Estrada will be tried, it
will have no bearing because he was imprisoned for five years, and
that a perjury case under Article 183 of the Revised Penal Code is
punishable from a fine to imprisonment of six months to six years.
“Granting that the trial will be revived,
President Estrada has already served the sentence,” Flaminiano
said.
He added that President Gloria Arroyo’s
granting pardon to Estrada was also done to allow the country to
move forward and unite Filipinos.
The lawyer of Estrada said he cannot understand
why the prosecution wanted to revive the case. He declined to
quality if there is politics involved in it.
The alleged perjury case involves Estrada’s
maintaining two deposit accounts containing at least P74 million
pesos when he only declared a net worth of only P35 million,
including non-cash assets.
-- Jomar Canlas
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