Prosecutors firm on HDO on Dichaves

MANILA, Philippines—Prosecutors have reiterated their opposition to a motion by businessman Jaime Dichaves to go on a trip abroad, saying he may not return again to face a plunder case, where he is the coaccused of deposed President Joseph Estrada.

In a manifestation and motion filed Thursday before the Sandiganbayan, the Ombudsman’s Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) asked the court to admit its rejoinder to Dichaves’ earlier plea that a  hold-departure order (HDO) against him be lifted so that he could travel abroad to revive his export business.

The OSP said Dichaves’ plan to travel bolsters its belief that the businessman would again put himself beyond the reach of the law should the results of the preliminary investigation be adverse to him.

The OSP noted that in first opposing the plea to lift the hold departure order, it had noted that Dichaves had fled the country when the first preliminary investigation of the case was conducted.

Dichaves left before Estrada was ousted in a mass uprising in 2001. Estrada was later convicted of plunder but was pardoned by then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Dichaves had argued that there was no basis for the hold-departure order against him considering that no valid preliminary investigation had been conducted in his case.

The Sandiganbayan Special Division had earlier recalled Dichaves’ arrest warrant and directed the Ombudsman to conduct a new preliminary investigation.