DE VENECIA SON SEEKS SC INTERVENTION. Jose De Venecia III, son of former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., files a petition for habeas data before the Supreme Court to stop government from allegedly harassing him and to order Senator Juan Ponce Enrile to cease and desist from airing alleged wiretapped phone conversations. The young De Venecia filed the petition after some of his calls appeared on the Internet. Video taken by INQUIRER.net reporter Tetch Torres.
De Venecia son seeks SC help over wiretapping By Leila Salaverria Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 04:23:00 03/27/2008
MANILA, Philippines—Broadband deal witness Jose “Joey” de Venecia III Wednesday took legal action against the alleged wiretapping of his private calls.
De Venecia asked the Supreme Court for the issuance of a writ of habeas data to compel the military, the police and former Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos Sr. to stop placing him under surveillance and harassing him.
A writ of habeas data is a judicial remedy aimed at protecting a person’s right to informational privacy. It could also be used to compel the release of information, or to update, rectify, suppress or destroy data.
De Venecia also asked the high court to stop Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile from pushing through with the alleged threat to broadcast publicly his supposed wiretapped calls, and to require those involved to produce all materials obtained through the wiretapping of his private communications.
He also called on the court to hold those involved in the wiretapping to be held responsible for their actions.
Enrile, Abalos etc.
Aside from Enrile and Abalos, other respondents named in the petition were Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Director General Avelino Razon of the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Intelligence Service of the AFP (ISAFP), and John and Jane Does.
De Venecia, a son of former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., is the founder of Amsterdam Holdings Inc., which failed to win the government’s National Broadband Network (NBN) deal. The NBN project seeks to digitally link government offices nationwide down to the barangay level.
The contract was awarded to China’s ZTE Corp. in April last year but it was scrapped seven months later amid allegations of overpricing and bribery.
De Venecia testified at the Senate on alleged irregularities in the $329-million NBN deal, claiming, among others, that Abalos had sought a $130-million commission.
In his petition, the businessman said the wiretapping of his calls was an unwarranted intrusion into his right to security and privacy.
De Venecia said the incursion on his private communications was seen by the circulation of the “supposed wiretapped materials purportedly bearing [his] conversations,” including on the video sharing website youtube.com.
“Petitioner should not be held hostage by these schemes that are all directed at encroaching upon the privacy of his communication while at the same time damaging the credibility of the testimony he provided to the Senate,” he said.
In supporting his allegation that his calls were intercepted, De Venecia said Abalos himself had told him of the wiretapping of his phone conversations when they had a verbal tussle after talks between them about the NBN broke down.
De Venecia accused Abalos of brokering the NBN deal in exchange for commissions from ZTE Corp. when the latter was the chair of the Commission on Elections.
The businessman cited the phone conversation he had with Abalos in which the latter shouted invectives at him and admitted to wiretapping his phone and even allegedly asked if he wanted a transcript.
Abalos’ ire was caused by De Venecia telling his partners that he was having difficulty with the project because of Abalos’ demand for commissions.
Movements monitored
As for the AFP, PNP and ISAFP, De Venecia said he received “reliable information” that their personnel were monitoring his movements and eavesdropping on his telephone and cellular phone calls.
“Petitioner did not doubt the capability of the AFP, PNP and particularly the ISAFP, to conduct wiretapping operations,” he said.
De Venecia also said he learned last month that a recording of a “purported” wiretapped telephone conversation between him and NBN witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. was uploaded on youtube.com.
Upon learning of this, he said he recalled his earlier conversation with Abalos.
At one of the Senate hearings on the NBN deal, De Venecia also learned that another supposed wiretapped call between him and Abalos was also uploaded on youtube.com.
As for Enrile, De Venecia said that the senator questioned him on telephone conversations he had with several people, and that Enrile had threatened to broadcast the recordings of his wiretapped conversations.
Among the people whom De Venecia allegedly talked to in the allegedly wiretapped calls were Farley Ampil and Sonny Garcia.
De Venecia said that from Enrile’s statements, it was clear that he had asked De Venecia about conversations he heard over the phone.
The businessman said Enrile also violated his right to privacy of communication and correspondence when the senator revealed the conversations between him and other people.
Enrile also admitted to having the tapes of the supposed wiretapped conversations, according to De Venecia.
“These acts of Senator Enrile, constitute violations of Republic Act No. 4200, otherwise known as the Anti-Wiretapping Act, which provides penal sanctions for defined instances of invasions of privacy,” De Venecia said.
He said he never gave anybody permission to record his phone conversations.
De Venecia also earned the ire of some members of the media when he became selective in handing out press releases to those who wanted to interview him.
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