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Saturday, November 22, 2003
Video scam witness says initial affidavit 'doctored'
By Victor L. Camion
PROSECUTION witness Victor Empleo claimed he decided to correct his first affidavit issued last July 1 because the details were not part of the narrative he gave to acting city legal officer Neil Rey Lagahit.
Empleo disclosed this in his supplemental affidavit of correction, the second so far, since he recanted his first sworn statement, which linked businessman Jonathan Lim to the Dumaguete video sex scandal.
"The only consideration that promoted me to execute my second affidavit dated 15th September, 2003, in which I made some corrections to my earlier affidavit dated 1st July, 2003, is the fact that, in the latter, some details were supplied if only to establish the elements of crime allegedly committed by Jonathan Lim. Which details were not part nor were included in my narrative taken at the Office of the City Legal Officer of Dumaguete City and before Atty. Neil Rey Lagahit," the witness said.
He said the City Government used the same affidavit without his consent as basis for the libel complaints filed against Lim by two of the alleged women-victims of the sordid sex shots.
The witness said that to prevent the further use of the facts in his first affidavit, he had to correct the same.
In the same supplemental affidavit, Empleo denied he recanted his testimony after receiving money from Lim.
He said that on the allegation of "greasing witnesses" by the alleged perpetrators of the illicit videotape, his "coddlers" themselves gave him all the luxuries he wanted when he first surfaced as the city's star witness in its sex scandal case.
"I was told to name my demands, and when I do, they are readily met, in order that I stick to the allegations in my first affidavit," Empleo claimed.
City Councilor Rommel Erames, a member of the city's legal group handling the sex case, refused to comment on Empleo claims saying he has yet to receive a copy of the supplemental affidavit.
Erames wants the witness investigated for his sudden switch as a witness to Lim's camp.
(November 16, 2003 issue)
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