Graft trial forcing JV to rethink politics

Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito. LYN RILLON/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Suspended Sen. JV Ejercito said on Tuesday he was mulling over his future political life as the Sandiganbayan Sixth Division started his trial for technical malversation over the alleged misuse of calamity funds.

Ejercito, along with several former councilors, has been charged with violating Article 220 of the Revised Penal Code for  using calamity funds to buy P2.1-million worth of high-powered firearms when he was still mayor of San Juan city in 2008.

“I now have the time to think if I want to pursue public service, because it’s really a thankless job,” Ejercito told reporters.

“You’re doing good things that don’t make it in the news. Then, there are things you don’t do that you are accused of, so it makes you think. My family doesn’t want me to run anymore,” he said.

Ejercito said he was focusing on clearing his name “because up to the present, I’ve never had any blemish in my track record.”

Calamity fund

During the hearing, the prosecution produced its first witness, Leticia Alcober, the acting treasurer of San Juan City.  She testified that the money used to buy the weapons was sourced from the general fund’s Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) account.

On cross-examination, Ejercito’s lawyer Sigfrid Fortun asked: “As far as you know—since you’re not yet the city treasurer at that time—was the calamity fund in 2008 actually used for this transaction at the end of the year?” She replied in the negative.

Alcober later admitted that the accounting ledger for that year did not reflect that the calamity funds were used to purchase guns.

But on redirect examination by prosecutor Jennifer Agustin-Se, Alcober clarified that the calamity funds were also contained under the general fund account.

Fortun also challenged the charge sheet’s statement that P2.1 million was misused when the LBP check amounted to only  P1,987,500.00. Alcober, however, said taxes were already deducted from the amount paid to supplier HK Tactical Defense System Inc.

Confident

Ejercito after the hearing expressed confidence he would be cleared.

“The witness already established it came from the general fund,” Ejercito said. “I’m just happy because my priority right now, of course, is to clear my name.”

Former San Juan City Vice Mayor Francis Zamora, who at the time was one of the councilors that authorized Ejercito to buy the guns, likewise said he was happy about how the first day of trial turned out.

“It’s only the first day of our trial, and I’m glad that we see in just the first day that it was established that [the payment for the guns] did not come from the calamity fund,” Zamora said.

But, Ejercito said the 90-day suspension earlier handed by the Fifth Division over a separate but related graft case gave him time to think if he wanted to continue public service.