PORK barrel fund scam state witness Ruby Tuason has failed to convince the Sandiganbayan Third Division regarding her trip to the United States, supposedly from March 22 to May 5, for a medical treatment.
“The motion of accused/movant Ruby C. Tuason is hereby denied for lack of merit,” the anti-graft court division said in its resolution dated March 15.
Tuason earlier appealed to the court to be allowed to travel to Los Angeles, California for a Descemet’s Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty.
Tuason’s length of stay in the US as well as her failure to provide the court with specific itinerary of his trip moved the Sandiganbayan to deny her motion to travel.
Meanwhile, alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles on Friday accused the Greyhound Team of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology of raiding her jail cell in Camp Bagong Diwa without proper authorization, an incident she used to justify her wish to be included in the government’s Witness Protection Program.
Citing an undated incident report that Napoles submitted to the Sandiganbayan, she said the raid involving 40 BJMP personnel happened on Oct. 12 last year.
Signed by Senior Jail Officer 1 Ruth Adorna and jail warden Chief Inspector Editha Dalisay, the report said one male officer wearing full battle gear entered the cell of “client Napoles” and took several of her belongings and papers.
“The Greyhound Team entered the cell by cutting the chain/lock with the use of a bolt cutter and kicking off the door to open. The entire cell was searched and ended with the confiscation of some items to include personal belongings and important documents and the cutting and disabling of the CCTV security camera,” the report read.
The operation of the Greyhound Team was conducted without proper coordination with the detailed team on duty, it added.
Napoles attached this report to her appeal to the Sandiganbayan to “enlighten even more” the anti-graft court to grant her urgent motion to be transferred to the WPP.
Tuason sought the permission to travel for the DMEK procedure, which according to her doctors is not done in the Philippines, after she has been diagnosed to be suffering from “corneal decompensation/ corneal edema of the right eye secondary to a low endothelial cell count that has decreased below the threshold for normal function.”
She submitted to the anti-graft court division a copy of the medical certificate signed by Dr. Ma. Dominga Padilla of St. Luke’s Medical Center, Global City.
Tuason said she was supposed to be admitted at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Hospital. In her motion, she said she will stay at her son’s home in Las Vegas, Nevada after the procedure.
Being a state witness in the plunder charges of former senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada, Tuason assured the court of her return to the country after her US trip.
She is a co-accused in the P900-million Malampaya fund scam case.
But her explanation did not convince the Sandiganbayan to grant her plea.
“Aside from the absence of specific details as to where the accused/movant will be staying while in Los Angeles, California, the period requested for the travel is over one month or 45 days,” the Sandiganbayan said.
Associate Justice Bernelito Fernandez penned the resolution, which was concurred by Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang and Associate Justice Edgardo Caldona.
Tuason is facing 97 counts each of alleged violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents in the Malampaya case.