By Atty. Ephraim B. Cortez / President, National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers
The question is, are they qualified to become state witnesses? According to the Rules on Criminal Procedure, an accused may be discharged to become a state witness only if he is deemed to be the least guilty among the parties involved.
In the case of the Discayas, they do not appear to be the least guilty. Contrary to their claim of merely being used as tools, as evidence suggests, they play a crucial role in the scheme. Their participation is necessary without which the flood control scam may not be perpetrated.
The Discayas, as they admitted, bribed congressmen and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) executives to get the contracts, and were paid in full regardless of the standard and the actual work done on the projects. They profited from these projects awarded to them through bribery.
However, in case they are utilized as state witnesses, the procedure governing the discharge of accused as provided by the Rules on Criminal Procedure should be strictly followed. This means that there should first be an indictment and the Discayas should surrender themselves to the jurisdiction of the court. Their discharge, and release from custody, should only be allowed after they agree to the following pre-conditions:
- Make a full disclosure of, and account for, all the profits they earned from their illegal dealings with the Government, including the proportionate value of substandard projects, ghost projects and other questionable projects, they have undertaken over the years.
- Agree to a life style check, and allow government auditors access to their financial records, personal and corporate, to determine the proportionality of their income and the assets they acquired over the years.
- Voluntarily forfeit in favor of the government funds and properties equivalent to the amount disclosed as profit from such illegal transactions, sub-standard, anomalous, and ghost projects as stated above, and any amount found to be in excess of their reported legal income.
- Full disclosure of the list of legislators, government executives and other government officials and employees involved in these anomalous transactions covering the entire period they transacted with DPWH.
They should be relieved from criminal liability only after they already testified, but they should not be relieved of the obligation to return monies unlawfully earned out of government contracts. These properties should be forfeited in favor of the government.
They should not be allowed to “have their cake and eat it too.” #
