High Court upholds Jinggoy plunder charge

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday junked with finality the petitions of detained Sen. Jinggoy Estrada last year seeking to stop his trial for plunder in the Sandiganbayan over his alleged involvement in the multibillion-peso Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.

SC spokesman Theodore Te said the justices decided to deny Estrada’s appeal and affirm its ruling last Jan. 21 upholding the indictment of the senator by the Office of the Ombudsman after findings of probable cause in the preliminary investigation.

“The court denied the motion for reconsideration filed by petitioner Sen. Estrada on the ground that no substantial argument was raised to merit a reconsideration,” Te told reporters in a press conference.

When asked for a reaction, the senator’s lawyer, Alexis Abastillas, said they respect the SC ruling.

“But we still maintain that the filing of charges against Sen. Estrada violated his right to due process and equal protection. The ombudsman has not presented any evidence nor witnesses to show that Sen. Estrada received any PDAF funds,” she said in a text message.

“There’s also no evidence to prove that Sen. Estrada ordered the diversion of his PDAF allocations to bogus foundations as such authority is carried out only by the implementing agencies,” she added.

In his petitions, Estrada asked the SC to void the ombudsman’s finding of probable cause for the filing of plunder and graft charges against him over alleged violation of his right to due process and equal protection under the law.

Estrada pointed out that the ombudsman’s resolution “grievously ignored, trampled upon and violated” his constitutional rights to due process when it first denied his request and then later on filed charges against him using those affidavits which he added were “not disclosed to him.”

Among the affidavits that Estrada requested are those filed by Ruby Tuason and former Technology Resource Center (TRC) chief Dennis Cunanan, the counter-affidavits of National Livelihood Development Corp. (NLDC) president Gondelina Amata and Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Undersecretary for Operations Mario Relampagos, the consolidated reply of the National Bureau of Investigation, as well as documents submitted by the other respondents in the pork barrel scam case and/or additional witnesses for the government.

The detained lawmaker said he needed these affidavits and counter-affidavits so that he can be informed of the charges against him.

But he explained that the ombudsman denied his request in a resolution issued last March 27, 2014 followed by the announcement a day after that it has issued a resolution charging him before the Sandiganbayan with plunder and violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The decision of the ombudsman denying his request, the senator said, violated the ombudsman’s own Rules of Procedure, Rules 112 of the Rules of Court, Article III of the Constitution and various decisions issued by the high court.

He, however, still has another pending petition in the SC – this time questioning the Sandiganbayan’s decision to reject his bail petition.

Estrada and his colleagues, Juan Ponce Enrile and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., were among the government officials charged in connection with the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam allegedly perpetrated by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles in connivance with lawmakers who channeled their pork barrel allocations to bogus non-government organizations she established.

Bong’s feet X-ray

The Sandiganbayan, on the other hand, has granted Revilla’s request that he be allowed to undergo a checkup to confirm if he is indeed suffering from insertional Achilles tendinitis B.

In a ruling, the anti-graft court said it is allowing the accused to have his feet x-rayed at the Philippine National Police General Hospital (PNPGH) on his day of choice.

However, the Sandiganbayan said it will not yet rule on Revilla’s request to undergo therapy to treat his condition until after the checkup reveals that such is needed.

The lawmaker filed a motion to address his medical needs last month after feeling intense pain in his heels.

Revilla explained that Senior Inspector Francisco Agudon, a doctor of the PNPGH, examined him at the PNP custodial center where he is detained. The diagnosis was insertional Achilles tendinitis B.

Ombudsman prosecutors, responding to the motion, opposed his request, believing that such ailment has not been verified.

JPE medical report sought

Meanwhile, the Sandiganbayan has directed the Makati Medical Center (MMC) to submit a report on the medical condition of Enrile, who was taken to the hospital last month allegedly because of pneumonia.

Magistrates of the anti-graft court’s Third Division gave hospital officials five days to respond to their directive, which seeks to determine if the lawmaker’s continued stay in the hospital is necessary.

The Sandiganbayan specifically tasked the medical director of the MMC to submit the latest medical bulletin on the condition of Enrile within five days.

Charged with graft

In a related development, former congressman and now Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali is facing graft and other charges before the Office of the Ombudsman for his reported involvement in allegedly anomalous transactions worth P15 million in 2005.

Pork barrel fund scam whistle-blower and former Napoles employee Marina Sula and one Antia Tansipek were also named respondents to the complaint filed by former vice-governor Edward Thomas Joson yesterday.

Umali was charged for allegedly allocating P15 million of his PDAF to the Masaganang Ani Para sa Magsasaka Foundation Inc., a non-government organization identified with Napoles, and the Samahan ng Mga Manininda ng Prutas sa Gabi Inc. when he was still a lawmaker in December 2005.

Joson said the former congressman gave P12 million to Sula’s group for the implementation of agricultural development projects in the third district of Nueva Ecija for the towns of Gabaldon and General Natividad.– With Michael Punongbayan