03 AND 02 JANUARY 2001
BEFORE THE PHILIPPINE SENATE
(SITTING AS THE IMPEACHMENT COURT)
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THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Next witness for the prosecution.
REP. APOSTOL. Our next witness is Jazmin Banal. She will testify on Article I.
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THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Swear in the witness.
THE SENATE SECRETARY. Kindly raise your right hand and put your left hand on the Bible and answer me.
You, Jasmin Banal, do swear that the evidence you shall give in the case now pending between the Philippine and Joseph Ejercito Estrada, President of the Philippines, shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
MS. BANAL. I do.
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REP. LIBARIOS. The prosecution is offering the testimony of the witness, Jasmin Banal, to establish and prove the following facts:
Number one, that upon the instruction of Atty. Edward Serapio and his assistant, Atty. Michael delos Reyes, the witness, together with associates of the De Borja Law Firm, signed as incorporator and secretary of two holding firms, namely, the PO Holding Corporation and the Alexi Holding Corporation;
Number two, that the said corporations were organized sometime in October, 1999, by Atty. Edward Serapio, the lawyer of the President, for the specific purpose of acquiring RN Development Corporation, the owner-operator of Fontana Leisure Parks Complex, which in turn acquired ownership over the jueteng-funded assets of Fontainbleau Casino;
And number three, that these two corporations, the PO Holdings and Alexi Holdings are dummy corporations linked to President Estrada and his crony, Lucio Co.
The testimony, Mr. Chief Justice, Your Honors, of this witness is further offered to corroborate the previous testimonies of witnesses Governor Chavit Singson, Carmencita Itchon and Rufo Colayco, that all the assets and interests of Fontainbleau Casino which were acquired through the use of jueteng collections for the President were turned over to Fontana through the RN Development Corporation and later on the full ownership and control of which was subsequently acquired by President Estrada or in partnership with known Presidential friend and crony, Lucio Co.
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THE PRESIDING OFFICER. The witness will be allowed to testify for the purposes mentioned.
x x x x x
REP. LIBARIOS. Miss Witness, can you please state your name and other personal circumstances?
MS. BANAL. I am Maria Jasmin V. Banal. My name is Ma. Jasmin V. Banal, I'm single, 27 years old.
REP. LIBARIOS. And can you state your personal circumstances?
MS. BANAL. I'm single.
REP. LIBARIOS. How about your educational attainment?
MS. BANAL. I graduated in 1994 with a BS degree in Business Economics from the University of the Philippines. In 1998, I graduated also from the University of the Philippines, with a Bachelor of Laws degree. And then in October of 1998, I took the Bar and I passed the Bar in May of 1999.
REP. LIBARIOS. Okay. Could you please inform us also about your professional experience?
MS. BANAL. Upon graduation, I... After I took the Bar, I joined the law firm of De Borja, Medialdea Bello, Guevarra, Serapio and Herodias as a legal assistant. That was sometime in November of 1999. When I passed the Bar in May--I'm sorry, November 1998. When I passed the Bar in May of 1999, I became a junior associate of that law firm. Sometime in June 2000, I tendered my resignation from that law firm and so I left that law firm sometime in July.
REP. LIBARIOS. And what is your present employment right now?
MS. BANAL. I am currently connected with the law firm of Romulo Mabanta.
REP. LIBARIOS. Atty. Banal, you mentioned that you were connected for a while as a junior associate of De Borja Law Office?
MS. BANAL. Yes.
REP. LIBARIOS. Can you state the length of your stay with the De Borja Law Office?
MS. BANAL. From November until July, that's around one year and eight/seven months.
REP. LIBARIOS. And as an associate of the De Borja Law Office, what was your assignment?
MS. BANAL. I was directly assigned to the corporate department.
REP. LIBARIOS. And can you mention if there were other members or lawyers assigned in the corporate department of the De Borja Law Office?
MS. BANAL. Yes. For the partners, there were three partners assigned. They were Atty. Boy de Borja, Atty. Edward Serapio and Atty. Raul Herodias.
REP. LIBARIOS. How about the associates--the junior associates?
MS. BANAL. At that time, when I entered, there were three senior associates.
REP. LIBARIOS. How about the junior associates?
MS. BANAL. At that time there were three junior associates and there was another legal assistant.
REP. LIBARIOS. Can you mention their names?
MS. BANAL. The junior associates?
REP. LIBARIOS. The junior associates, yes.
MS. BANAL. Atty. Michael de los Reyes, Atty. Lorna Rosario, Atty. Michaela Rosales.
REP. LIBARIOS. Now, you mentioned that you were assigned in the corporate division as one of the associates.
Now, can you tell us your major activities or your responsibilities and duties in the law firm?
MS. BANAL. We would normally render legal opinions. We would help in drafting of contracts, reviewing of contracts, incorporation of corporations and partnerships, filing of requirements with the SEC.
REP. LIBARIOS. In the course of your performance as a junior associate of the law firm De Borja, did you come across two corporations, namely: PIO Holdings and Alexi Holding Corporation?
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THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Just make another question.
REP. LIBARIOS. In the course of your performance of your duties as an associate of the law firm De Borja, did you come across these two corporations, namely, PIO Holding Corporation and Alexi Holding Corporation?
MS. BANAL Yes.
REP. LIBARIOS. And how did you come to know these two corporations?
MS. BANAL. I was asked to sign the incorporation papers of those two corporations?
REP. LIBARIOS. In what capacity were you asked to sign these two corporations?
MS. BANAL. As incorporator.
REP. LIBARIOS. And how did you come to sign the articles of incorporation of these two corporations?
MS. BANAL. The incorporation documents for the both corporations, as well as some other documents, were left on my table. I remember sometime, I think 1999, and attached to those documents was a note that... asking me to sign those documents.
REP. LIBARIOS. And can you remember who sent that particular note?
MS. BANAL. Well, the note was signed by the secretary assigned to Atty. Serapio.
REP. LIBARIOS. And can you remember the name of the secretary?
MS. BANAL . Yes.
REP. LIBARIOS. Can you state the name?
MS. BANAL. It's Linda.
REP. LIBARIOS. And what was the content of that particular note?
MS. BANAL. It just said, "JVB, for your signature."
REP. LIBARIOS. You mentioned about Atty. Serapio.
MS. BANAL. Yes.
REP. LIBARIOS. Who is this Atty. Serapio?
MS. BANAL. He is one of the...he was one of the senior partners and founding partners of the law firm of De Borja.
REP. LIBARIOS. How did you come to know that this Atty. Serapio is one of the founding partners of the De Borja law firm?
MS. BANAL. When I was working...when I started working for that law firm, they oriented us. So they told us about the history and we were told that as stated in our directory, in our web site, Atty. Serapio is a founding partner.
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REP. LIBARIOS. What other responsibilities if you know did Atty. Serapio perform aside from being a founding partner of the law firm?
MR. FLAMINIANO. We have the same objection, Mr. Chief Justice.
THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Overruled. Witness may answer.
MS. BANAL. What other responsibilities?
REP. LIBARIOS. Responsibilities aside from being a founding partner.
MS. BANAL. Well, I understand he was appointed Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs sometime in April of 1999.
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MR. FLAMINIANO. Mr. Chief Justice, we have to move to strike off the answer of the witness because it has no relation to his being a member of that law office-- law firm. Because the question refers to what other responsibilities.
THE PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair would see it as a preliminary to a testimony on the witness precisely related to the purposes for which the said testimony of the witness had been announced to be offered.
MR. FLAMINIANO. Thank you, Mr. Chief Justice.
REP. LIBARIOS. Thank you, Your Honor.
Ms. Witness, you mentioned that Atty. Serapio who was a founding partner of the law firm was also designated or appointed as a Presidential Adviser sometime in April of 1999. Now, how did you come to know about this appointment?
MS. BANAL. I remember upon his appointment Atty. De Borja who was the managing partner made an announcement to the entire firm about the appointment.
REP. LIBARIOS. Okay. Now, after this Atty. Serapio was appointed as a Presidential Adviser in Malacanang, did you know or do you know if he continued to perform functions in the De Borja Law Office?
MS. BANAL. I wouldn't know exactly the arrangement between him and the other partners but I would see him regularly in our law firm.
REP. LIBARIOS. You said "regularly", what do you exactly mean by "regularly"?
MS. BANAL. Every week.
REP. LIBARIOS. Okay. Let me go back to your testimony earlier that you received a note from a certain Linda, the secretary of Atty. Serapio. Now, upon receiving that particular note which requested you to sign this Articles of Incorporation of the PIO Holdings and the Alexi Holdings, what else did you do if any?
x x x x x
REP. LIBARIOS. Now, why did you call up Atty. Michael de los Reyes?
MS. BANAL. Because Atty. Michael de los Reyes was directly assigned to Atty. Serapio. And so I had to talk to him and asked him for whom the work was being done so that I could log my time because in that law firm we were required to record our time for each day.
REP. LIBARIOS. And you mentioned that you called up Atty. Michael de los Reyes, were you able to talk with Atty. Michael de los Reyes?
MS. BANAL. Yes.
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