THE Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division told the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to terminate the presentation of witnesses as it finally took cognizance of the protracted proceedings in the Lucio Tan case.

“You should complete the testimonies of your witnesses. You should endeavor and try your best to terminate their testimonies if they have nothing more to say,” Associate Justice Maria Cristina Cortez Estrada, chairman of the antigraft court’s Fifth Division, told PCGG lawyer Catalino Generillo Jr. on Wednesday after he informed the court he has no witness to present.

Estrada cited government witnesses like former PCGG chairman Jovito Salonga, Kilusang Bagong Lipunan Rep. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of Ilocos Norte and director Jeremy Barns of the Malacańang Museum, who all began but have not completed their respective testimonies.

She directed Generillo to be ready with his witnesses when the court resumes hearings on Civil Case 005 in January next year.

Earlier, defense lawyers expressed frustration over the PCGG’s repeated failure to present its witnesses to fast-track the proceedings. Since there was no government witness available, the court decided to reschedule the hearings for next year. 

Tan’s lead defense counsel Estelito Mendoza has been complaining that PCGG was allegedly “taking its sweet time” in presenting evidence and witnesses. He has appealed to Sandiganbayan justices to compel PCGG to finally terminate the testimonies of its witnesses, citing his client’s right to speedy trial.

Often, Mendoza complained, PCGG witnesses were either unprepared or brought documents that were unnecessary or irrelevant to the case. “That is the story over and over again,” he said, referring to government’s presentation of unprepared witnesses who have no personal knowledge of the alleged close links between Tan and the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

He said the case against Tan should be dismissed for government’s failure over the past 20 years to present credible evidence and witnesses that would link his assets to the alleged ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses.

Mendoza pointed out that the appearance of Marcos as a PCGG “adverse witness” would not help the government’s case since he [Bongbong] cannot make adverse testimony against the interest of his father, who is the principal defendant in Civil Case 005 and other ill-gotten wealth cases.

The young Marcos earlier told the court that his father owned many of Tan's corporations and the latter merely held the business ventures in trust. Tan's lawyers however said that the late dictator extorted his shares of the companies from Tan.

THE lawyer of wanted Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon turned the tables on the government on Sunday, saying that her client is being held by security forces and did not escape as claimed by the government.

THE United Nations (UN) reinvigorated its warning on the continued danger of an avian-influenza epidemic in individual nations and possible pandemic in the world in its joint report with the World Bank (WB) on the bird flu, although incidence has declined.

AN international group of activists from over 125 counties urged, in a report released last week, all governments to strengthen their political will toward the easing accessibility of drugs to treat HIV-AIDS, a disease that remains a threat to populations around the world.

THE BusinessMirror placed third in the Institutional Category for papers devoting editorial space to biotechnology issues, in the Third Jose G. Burgos Jr. Awards for Biotech Journalism at the Balai Kalinaw, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City

SORSOGON CITY—A newly elected barangay chairman and his two bodyguards, including a policeman, were gunned down on Saturday evening while attending a political gathering at a coastal village of this city that is known to be the “whale shark capital of the world.”

THE Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division told the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to terminate the presentation of witnesses as it finally took cognizance of the protracted proceedings in the Lucio Tan case.

A TOP official of the Aboitiz group in Cebu denied they have links with the group led by businessman Enrique Razon Jr. that is bidding for the National Transmission Corp. (Transco).