CA junks JDV III's habeas data plea

MANILA, Philippines - The Court of Appeals has junked the petition for habeas data filed by Jose “Joey” De Venecia III, the whistleblower in the allegedly anomalous $329.48-million National Broadband Network (NBN) project. De Venecia, son of former House Speaker Jose De Venecia Jr., filed the petition in connection with the unauthorized wiretapped phone conversations involving him that he said was in the possession of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. “We find acceptable Enrile's justification for claiming possession of the recording,” the CA said in its 19-page ruling penned by Associate Justice Monina Arevalo-Zenarosa. De Venecia’s petition stemmed from a supposed claim by former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos that he has a transcript of the telephone conversations of De Venecia. De Venecia asked the Supreme Court to enjoin various government agencies from carrying out wire-tapping and surveillance activities over his private communications, particularly with officials of ZTE Corp. of China, which cornered the aborted NBN project. He likewise sought court action against Enrile’s threat to publicly broadcast the supposed wiretapped conversations involving him and to order the respondents to cease from harassing him. In its decision, the CA noted that there was no strong proof that Enrile has a copy of the taped conversation other than his supposed admission. “Enrile, as an investigator, was merely feigning possession of contradicting evidence as a legitimate method for the purpose of determining the credibility of the witness. What he was doing was probably a dramatization of a pretense to inquire into the truthfulness of petitioner’s (De Venecia's) claims,” the appellate court said. Concurring with the decision were Associate Justices Juan Q. Enriquez and Arcangelita Romilla-Lontok. Aside from Enrile and Abalos, other respondents in De Venecia's suit were former Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon and former Philippine National Police Chief Director General Avelino Razon. - GMANews.TV