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Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Basketball player cries harassment
CONTROVERSIAL professional basketball player Asi Taulava denounced Monday the decision of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to indict him for allegedly forging his citizenship records.
Appearing before State Prosecutor Paulino Gallegos, Taulava said through his lawyer Eduardo Francisco that the falsification case filed against Taulava, his mother Paulie, and three others, is a "shotgun charge".
A second hearing was scheduled for April 28.
Taulava claims to have Filipino lineage.
Records from the US Department of Homeland Security showed that Taulava's mother, Pauline Taulava, was born on July 13, 1946 in Vaotu'u, Tonga.
The NBI's case is hinged on alleged misrepresentations made by Taulava in birth documents he submitted to the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
Likewise to be indicted is Samar Municipal Civil Registrar Yuri del Valle Sr.
Francisco said the case is an outright "defiance of the court order enjoining the DOJ (Department of Justice) and the BI (Bureau of Immigration) from conducting any hearing (on Taulava)".
The injunction had been issued in connection with citizenship proceedings which the DOJ has decided against Taulava and which he has appealed before the Court of Appeals (CA).
A separate charge for alleged tax evasion against Taulava is likewise pending before the DOJ. (BBP)
(March 29, 2005 issue)
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