A witness who accused Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan and public prosecutors led by Deputy Senior State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon of receiving bribe money from the Ampatuan clan has recanted her testimony and cleared them of the charges.
In a five-page affidavit submitted to the Department of Justice, Jerramy Joson took back her affidavit accusing Baraan, Fadullon and other prosecutors who handled the Maguindanao massacre case of receiving bribes from the Ampatuans.
Joson admitted that Maguindanao Gov. Ismael “Toto” Mangudadatu and lawyer Nena Santos prodded her to fabricate the charges to push for the ouster of Baraan as supervising official of the DOJ’s panel prosecuting the case.
Joson said she only invented the charges against Baraan and some of the prosecutors through the notebook carrying the records of the amounts paid by the Ampatuans to the DOJ officials upon orders of Mangudadatu’s lawyers Santos and Gemma Oquendo.
Joson said the supposed notebook was merely “concocted” by the camp of Santos and Mangudadatu.
She also claimed that she was even made to stay at the house of Mangudadatu’s brother Maguindanao Rep. Zajid Mangudadatu, in Davao when the bribery story came out.
“They would often tell me that they had to find a way to destroy Undersecretary Baraan and that I should help them for such purpose,” Joson said in her affidavit.
“I also learned that Attorney Nena Santos, Attorney Gemma Oquendo and Governor Toto have an axe to grind against Undersecretary Baraan that they want him out of the Ampatuan case by taking away the trust of Secretary De Lima on him, so they would use me to destroy the reputation of Baraan and file charges against him,” she claimed.
With her recantation, Joson said she had already withdrawn the graft and corruption cases she filed against Baraan before the Office of the Ombudsman.
She explained that she was chosen for the demolition job since she was once close to lawyer Arnel Manaloto, a former Ampatuan lawyer who was reportedly used by the Ampatuan clan as dummy to hide their properties.
Joson said she went to the office of Baraan to apologize to him and other prosecutors for putting them in a bad light and tarnishing their reputation.
In a text message to reporters, Santos denied she fabricated the notebook to get back at Baraan, Fadullon and other DOJ officials.
“I have nothing to do with the alleged notebook which copy I only got from NBI (National Bureau of Investigation),” the lawyer said.
“Why will she go out on national TV and say so much and now turn around?” she asked.