Witness in Ampatuan bribery charge recants

A witness in the alleged bribe try on Department of Justice (DOJ) officials and prosecutors previously handling the November 2009 Maguindanao massacre case has recanted.

Jerramy Joson appeared to DOJ last Friday to belie her earlier accusations that Justice Undersecretary Francisco “Toti” Baraan III and some government prosecutors received bribe money from the Ampatuans.

In her affidavit, Joson claimed that she was used by the camp of Maguindanao Gov. Ismael “Toto” Mangudadatu in a supposed bid to remove Baraan from the DOJ panel prosecuting the case.

Joson said she concocted charges against Baraan and some prosecutors using a notebook listing the amounts paid by the Ampatuans to the DOJ officials allegedly on orders of Mangudadatu’s lawyers, Nena Santos and Gemma Oquendo.

In the notebook, Joson insinuated that Baraan, Deputy Senior State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon and other prosecutors received bribe money from the Ampatuans.

But in her latest affidavit, Joson said the contents of the notebook were merely invented by Santos and Mangudadatu.

“They would often tell me that they had to find a way to destroy the reputation of Undersecretary Baraan and that I should file charges against him,” read the affidavit submitted by Joson to State Prosecutor Cristina Rilloraza.

“I learned that Attorney Santos and Oquendo and Gov. Toto have an axe to grind against Undersecretary Baraan that they want him out of the Ampatuan case,” Joson said.

Joson said that she had withdrawn the graft cases she filed against Baraan with the ombudsman.

She explained that she was chosen for the demolition job since she was once close to lawyer Arnel Manaloto, a former Ampatuan counsel who was reportedly used by the Ampatuan clan as a dummy to hide their properties.

Joson disclosed that she was kept at the house of Mangudadatu’s brother, Maguindanao Rep. Zajid Mangudadatu, in Davao when the news on the bribe allegations broke.

She apologized to Baraan and the DOJ prosecutors she implicated in the bribery charge for destroying their reputation.

When asked for a reaction, Santos denied Joson’s allegations.

“I think she was paid to recant. I have nothing to do with the alleged notebook, which copy I only got from the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation),” Santos said in a text message.

“I was informed by one of the lawyers from the Ampatuan side that she had debts from Manaloto before and that coming out in the open was a way of getting more money from them,” she added.