Jinggoy seeks SC relief

MANILA, Philippines - On the first day of his detention for plunder, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada asked the Supreme Court to stop the Sandiganbayan from proceeding with the cases filed against him by the Office of the Ombudsman.

In a petition filed by his lawyer Sabino Acut Jr. last Monday, Estrada sought the immediate issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) and/or writ of preliminary injunction on further proceedings against him in the anti-graft court.

Acut said the SC should void the findings by the ombudsman of probable cause for the filing of plunder and graft charges against the senator, citing alleged violation of his right to due process and equal protection under the law.

Allowing the Sandiganbayan to proceed with the plunder and graft cases, he said, “will work injustice and cause grave and irreparable injury to him as he will be required to go through the hardship of submitting himself to trial, which would tend to render any judgment in this petition ineffectual.”

Estrada’s lawyer also asked the SC to invalidate the arrest warrant issued by the Sandiganbayan last Monday against the senator.

The senator did not wait to be served the arrest warrant, but “surrendered” to his father, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, before going to Camp Crame where he was booked for plunder and detained.

The senator reiterated that his indictment was an administration plot to undermine the chances of the opposition in the 2016 presidential elections.

He complained about his and his two other opposition senators’ being singled out in the investigation into the pork barrel scam, considering that the Commission on Audit – in a special audit report – had linked 300 legislators to the alleged embezzling of lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.

Charged with Estrada were Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Ramon Revilla Jr. The latter was ordered arrested last week ahead of Estrada. The court has not yet issued a warrant for Enrile’s arrest.

“The fact that there is selective prosecution, or rather persecution, is further proven by the fact that there existed documents that implicated other members of the legislature other than Sen. Estrada, Sen. Revilla and Sen. Enrile and yet all these legislators have not been investigated,” Acut pointed out.

He added that even the signed affidavits of alleged PDAF scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles containing her alleged “tell-all” on the issue were dismissed by the National Bureau of Investigation without any probe.

Estrada, through his lawyer, also argued that the ombudsman had failed to establish his having amassed more than P50 million in ill-gotten wealth. A case can only be considered plunder if the amount stolen is P50 million or more.

“Apart from bare allegations and hearsay evidence, there is no proof that Sen. Estrada received, amassed, accumulated or acquired a single centavo out of his PDAF allocation through a combination or series of overt criminal acts,” the petition stated.

He said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) released the questioned funds directly to implementing agencies, which in turn forwarded them to local government units or to non-governmental organizations (NGO).

“It is not disputed that Sen. Estrada never had control or custody of a single centavo of the funds,” the petition stated. He also said the ombudsman failed to establish through evidence that he had instructed anyone to divert any funds for his personal use.

He argued that the supposed whistle-blowers led by Benhur Luy had never claimed to have personally witnessed him receiving kickbacks for his pork barrel-funded projects.

“Even Ruby Tuason, assuming that her testimony is credible and believable, never said that she had delivered to Sen. Estrada such sums of money which is anywhere near P50,000,000,” his petition read.

“Clearly, all of the supposed evidence against Sen. Estrada upon which the finding of probable cause is based constitute nothing more than pure hearsay testimony which has no probative value whatsoever,” it added.

With regard to Luy’s purported ledger listing the amount of kickbacks and commissions, the senator said such did not prove that money had indeed been delivered to him.

Estrada also said there were no indications that the NGOs that implemented his PDAF projects were those of Napoles.

“The subject NGOs were all registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and accredited by the respective implementing agencies before the endorsements were made,” he pointed out.

He also explained that the practice of tapping NGOs to undertake projects pre-determined in the General Appropriations Act is in line with Republic Act No. 7160 (Local Government Code) and Article II Section 23 of the Constitution which states that: “The State shall encourage non-governmental, community-based, or sectoral organizations that promote the welfare of the nation.”

He noted that based on rules governing such projects, only the implementing agencies have the power to choose which NGOs should carry out specific projects.

Clean but hot

Mayor Estrada said Jinggoy’s detention cell was clean but was like a “microwave oven.”

He also said he is confident of his senator-son’s acquittal and reiterated he harbors no grudge against President Aquino. “We are friends,” Estrada said.

“I told him to be strong. I’m sure he will overcome all of this,” Estrada said.

“That is what life is. It happened to me in 2001. It also happened to me and Jinggoy in 2001. This is just a replay. I know that he will be absolved from the case,” the former president said.

Estrada said he hopes to visit Jinggoy after lunch today.

The senator’s wife Precy and his mother Loi Ejercito visited him yesterday afternoon and stayed for more than an hour.

The senator had designated his mother as his official doctor, according to Philippine National Police spokesman Chief Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac. With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Aie Balagtas See, Jose Rodel Clapano