|
Thursday, March 27, 2008
JDV son seeks SC help v. harassment
MANILA -- Saying that his movements are being monitored and his phone conversations being wiretapped, businessman Joey de Venecia III on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to order the military and police to stop harassing him.
The son of former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. is one of the whistleblowers in the Senate inquiry on the botched $329 million national broadband network (NBN) deal with China's ZTE Corp.
Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo
In his petition for writ of habeas data, the younger de Venecia asked the SC to enjoin respondent Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr., the Intelligence Service of the AFP (Isafp), Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Avelino Razon Jr., and other people acting on their behalf, from conducting any surveillance activities against him and other personalities involved in the controversial NBN-ZTE deal.
De Venecia also asked the high court to enjoin respondents to produce all materials, including recordings and transcriptions in their possession obtained through their wiretapping activities on his private communications, and stop them from uploading these over the YouTube, an online video and audio sharing forum.
Senator Juan Ponce Enrile was also named as respondent in de Venecia's petition.
The former Speaker's son urged the SC to stop Enrile from airing any supposed wiretapped conversation between him and other personalities as this violates his right to privacy and laws against electronic eavesdropping.
"Respondents' collective actions constitute unwarranted intrusions on petitioner's right to security and privacy. It should be noted that the circulation of supposed wiretapped materials purportedly bearing petitioner's conversations with other persons signifies the blatant and unjustified incursions on petitioner's private communication," said de Venecia.
He further claimed that he does not doubt the capability of the AFP, PNP, and Isafp to conduct wiretapping operations.
De Venecia filed the petition following the airing over YouTube of his alleged conversation with former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr., fellow whistleblower Rodolfo Lozada Jr. and his former colleagues at the Amsterdam Holdings Inc. (AHI), which also vied for the NBN-ZTE project.
According to him, sometime last month, he got information that a recording of a supposed wiretapped conversation between him and Lozada was uploaded in the YouTube website.
De Venecia said he then recalled the threat made against him by Abalos, who threatened to have his telephones wiretapped.
He said the issue of his phones being wiretapped surfaced anew at the Senate hearing on the NBN-ZTE deal last March 11 during the course of the questioning of Senator Panfilo Lacson, who mentioned about the YouTube blurb.
In that same hearing, de Venecia said Enrile questioned him about several telephone conversations he had made with other people. Thereafter, Enrile allegedly threatened to broadcast the supposed recorded conversations.
"Respondent Enrile publicly confronted petitioner regarding statements that the latter purportedly made in the course of various telephone conversations. The senator further made mention and invoked as his source a supposed tape recording of such conversations. Worse, in the course of the Senate hearing of March 11, 2008, he threatened to publicly air the purported tape recordings of wiretapped telephone conversations involving petitioner," he said.
Such acts, according to de Venecia, constitute violations of Republic Act (RA) 4200, otherwise known as the Anti-Wiretapping Act. (ECV/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Dumaguete. (March 27, 2008 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
Fire destroys old church, convent