Senator Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada on Tuesday made good on his promise to file charges against dismissed Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Engineer Brice Ericson D. Hernandez by lodging a criminal case for perjury before the Quezon City Office of the City Prosecutor.
Estrada, accompanied by several of his lawyers, filed four counts of perjury against Hernandez, who served as one of the whistleblowers in the alleged anomalous flood control projects and who implicated the senator during committee and public hearings.
Atty. Bianca Soriano, one of Estrada's counsels, said Hernandez committed perjury by telling the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee that Estrada received 30 percent commissions from the said projects.
The second perjury charge, Soriano said, stemmed from Hernandez’s claim that a certain Beng Ramos was a staff member of the senator. The third incident cited in the complaint was Hernandez’s alleged recantation, while the fourth involved his use of a fake identification card to enter government casinos — something the DPWH engineer allegedly admitted when Estrada questioned him during the hearings.
Included in the charge sheet is a request for Hernandez’s imprisonment, perpetual disqualification from holding public office, and monetary damages amounting to millions of pesos, which Soriano said will be detailed during court proceedings if the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office finds merit in their case.
In an ambush interview after filing the complaint, Estrada told reporters that “Hernandez is a liar.”