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Charged former President Joseph Estrada with plunder for receiving about P545 million in protection money from illegal gambling operations, specifically jueteng. Co-accused included Charlie “Atong” Ang, Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, Yolanda Ricaforte, and Edward Serapio.
Presented 22 witnesses, which included former Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis “Chavit”
Highlights of the testimonies of some of the witnesses:
He met with Estrada, Ang, and [suspected jueteng lord] Bong Pineda at Estrada’s house on Polk Street in Greenhills. Estrada instructed Singson and Ang to deliver to him jueteng money, which they started collecting in August 1998 and started delivering in September 1998. Singson delivered jueteng money to Estrada every 15 days.
After a disagreement between Ang and Estrada, Singson became the sole collector starting November 1998. He listed all the collections and expenses in a ledger, which he prepared on a monthly basis. He personally delivered to Estrada a total of P200 million. Estrada appointed Ricaforte as auditor for jueteng money. Ricaforte prepared the ledger from August 1999 to August 2000. Jueteng collections were deposited in Estrada’s bank accounts, which were in the name of Ricaforte.
In 2000 Estrada instructed him to give P200 million to Atty. Edward Serapio. He said that it was Ricaforte who gave Serapio the money.
(The prosecution claimed that Serapio delivered the money to Ms. Beatriz Bagsit, who was in charge of Estrada’s accounts at Equitable-PCI Bank and that money was deposited 28 times to the Erap Muslim Youth Foundation account.)
Jinggoy Estrada also received jueteng money and even collected from Bulacan operators.
Singson’s ledger incurred zero balance in July 2000 because jueteng was replaced by Pick-2 or Bingo 2-Ball of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. Singson asked Ang to reserve the franchise or license of Bingo 2-Ball in Ilocos Sur for him, but Ang gave it to Singson’s political rivals—Bonito and Eric Singson.
Singson told Estrada about it, but the President said he had nothing to do with it.
There was an attempt on Singson’s life to prevent him from exposing this. The attempt happened in San Marcelino St. in Manila, where two mobile patrols attempted to ambush him.
Itchon is an accountant hired by Singson for Fontainblue Inc., a company funded by jueteng collections, according to Singson. Itchon received 12 collections from messengers of Singson and Anton Prieto.
Singson instructed her to collect money from Bong Pineda and Jinggoy Estrada. In March 2000, Jinggoy gave her a United Overseas Bank personalized check, which she deposited in Singson’s account.
Artales is a security escort of Singson. He collected P5 million from Bong Pineda, which was delivered to Malacañang by Emma Lim.
Singson is a personal aide of Governor Singson. He accompanied Artates when he collected money from Bong Pineda and accompanied Lim when she delivered the money to Malacañang.
Amistad is a security escort of Singson. He collected money from Bong Pineda in 1999 and 2000 and from a security escort of then San Juan Mayor Jinggoy Estrada. Amistad said he delivered the money to Singson.
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Edelquin Nantes, Rosario Bautista, Shakira Yu, Vergel Pabillon, Edgardo Lim Alcaraz and Emma Aguila Gonzales
They are branch managers of the Equitable-PCI Bank. Ricaforte opened, maintained, and later closed savings accounts in the bank. Ricaforte applied for manager’s/cashier’s check.
Fortuno is a manager of the Equitable-PCI Pacific Star branch. Foregoing checks were deposited into a “bearer” account at his branch on April 25, 2000. The checks were withdrawn from April 27, to May 11, 2000. The withdrawn amounts were deposited into the Erap Muslim Youth Foundation maintained at Equitable-PCI branch in Strata 100.· Aida BasilaoBasilao is branch manager of Equitable-PCI Bank. There are 28 inter-branch deposits from her branch amounting to P200 million made into the Erap Muslim Youth Foundation’s savings account from April 21 to May 11, 2000.
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Presented 34 witnesses, which included the accused, Joseph Estrada, and his son, now Senator Jinggoy Estrada.
Highlights of some the testimonies of the witnesses:
The charge was politically motivated because Singson was against the President’s move to legalize jueteng. He didn’t meet with Singson, Pineda, and Ang in his house in Polk Street.
Denied that he:(1) received P5 million or P10 million from Singson every 15 days; (2) knew about the ledgers that Singson kept; (3) received money from Carmencita Itchon and Emma Lim; (4) appointed Yolanda Ricaforte as his jueteng auditor; (5) formed the Erap Muslim Youth Foundation to launder jueteng protection money (he was not a signatory to any of the foundation’s bank accounts); (6) ordered Singson to give P5 million to Bograd, P1.2 million to Laarni Enriquez, and P65 million to William Gatchalian.
He was not a collector of the President’s commission from jueteng operations in Bulacan. He didn’t keep P1 million from these supposed monthly collections. He did not know Jamis Singson, Emma Lim, and Vicente Amistad. He didn’t ask Singson to exclude him from the exposé.
Then congressman of Kalookan. Singson told him about his disappointment after the Ilocos Sur franchise for Bingo 2-Ball was given to his political rivals.
Former Manila mayor. When he and Asistio talked to Singson about the attempt on his life, Singson said that he is mad at Ang because the latter gave Bingo 2-Ball to his opponents.
University of the Philippines professor and member of the board of trustees of the Erap Muslim Youth Foundation.
Dr. Raul de Guzman (Estrada’s brother in law) organized EMYF. De Guzman told him that the foundation was part of Estrada’s vision to help develop young Muslim leaders and would be among the beneficiaries of the Erap Golf Cup. The foundation’s funding came from the P100,000 contributions of the incorporators and the P10 million received from the Erap Golf Cup in the summer of 2000. The foundation received a P200-million donation and Atty. Serapio said that the donor wanted to remain anonymous.
They were scholars of the Erap Muslim Youth Foundation.
A vehicle beat the red light in San Marcelino Street, Manila, so they pursued and stopped it. They discovered that Governor Singson was inside the vehicle. After being stopped, Singson complained that he was being harassed, so Vallo called Supt. Rodolfo Azurin.
He convinced Singson to come with them to the Western Police District headquarters in Manila, where they issued a traffic violation ticket to Singson’s driver and confiscated the sirens and blinkers attached to the vehicle. Singson complained to the mediamen whowere present that he was being harassed because he was opposed to the Bingo 2-Ball of Pagcor.
The police blotter showed that there was no recorded complaint by Singson against the police involved in the San Marcelino incident.
Defense panel claimed that:
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Singson’s motive was to get back at Estrada because the latter “wanted to eradicate jueteng or to legalize a substitute form of lottery.”
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Singson was “a polluted source,” having confessed to trying to cover up his crime.
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The ledgers are a “hearsay” and fabricated to cover up Singson’s crimes and to implicate Estrada and stop him from replacing jueteng with Bingo 2-Ball.
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The prosecution failed to present evidence that Estrada tolerated or protected jueteng.
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The Erap Muslim Youth Foundation is a legitimate foundation that assisted Muslim youth.
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Singson’s testimony in the impeachment court is not consistent with his testimony in the anti-graft court.
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Institution Watch 
