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Edsa II Flashback
The No's Have It
The Senator-judges give their vote on whether or not the second envelope should be opened.
by Miriam I. Ugaddan
Manila, Philippines, Jan. 16, 2001 — The Impeachment Trial, on its 23rd day, the center of all attention for all Filipinos
for more than a month now, came up with its yet most unprecedented, emotional and controversial decision last night
as it voted 11 against 10, not to open a "second envelope" containing documents from Equitable PCI Bank.
After more than two hours of oral argumentation by the defense, prosecution and Senator-Judges they voted around 8:35 p.m.
Soon after Senator-Judge Aquilino "Nene" Pimentel cast & explained his vote he resigned his post as Senate President. Almost
simultaneously thereafter, people from the gallery as well as some prosecutors walked out en masse from the courtroom triggering
a pandemonium as media men chased after Pimentel in an effort to get his statement.
In his argument, Prosecutor Joker Arroyo said that the documents, contained in a "second envelope" which was submitted to the
impeachment court in December, would proove that the "Jose Velarde" account allegedly owned by President Estrada "at its peak"
"amounted to P 3.3 billion. This was amassed, he said, during Estrada's first 18 months in office. "This saving account has been closed by
November 15, just when the Senate adopted its (impeachment) rules for the trial," Arroyo said. "It went again to six accounts but not in the
name of the president," he also said.
Arroyo explained that the P 3.3 billion savings account served as a "mother fund" to feed the other accounts, which includes the trust
account used to lend P 500 million to Wellex Corp. and a current account on which a P 142 million check was drawn to buy the Boracay
mansion. He said Estrada's friends funded the "mother" account using "various checks, most of them 'pay to cash' . He mentioned
Mark Jimenez deposited P 180 million; Dante Tan, P 300 million; Jaime Dichaves, P 210 million; and Lucio Co, with an undetermined
amount. Furthermore, another alleged account of Estrada, under the name "Kevin Garcia" accounted for a P 180 million deposit,
"Arroyo added.
The defense strongly opposed the opening of the envelope because they said that the said account is not part of the articles of
impeachment. Atty. Estelito Mendoza claimed the basis for the opening of the sealed documents had not been established by the
prosecution. "The information sought from the envelope are "immaterial" to the case and are not included in the articles of impeachment,"
Mendoza said. He added that matters out of the articles of impeachment are not under the jurisdiction of the Senate acting as an
"impeachment court, therefore, the second envelope should not be opened.
Incidentally, the house was divided in this manner:
FOR: Roco, Biazon, Legarda-Leviste, Guingona, Flavier, Drilon, Cayetano,
Magsaysay, S. Osmena, and Pimentel.
AGAINST: Enrile, Santiago, Tatad, Coseteng, Oreta, J. Osmena, Ople, Revilla, Jaworski, Honasan and Sotto.
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