Jinggoy wants to vote in barangay polls

Detained former San Juan Mayor Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada asked yesterday the Sandiganbayan to allow him to vote in his hometown San Juan in the coming barangay elections next month.

In a motion filed through his court-appointed counsels, Jinggoy asked the anti-graft court special division to allow him to leave his detention at the Makati Medical Center for six hours to enable him to cast his vote on July 15.

Jinggoy is one of the co-accused of his father, jailed former President Joseph Estrada, in the capital offense of plunder.

Jinggoy explained that the voting is usually held between the hours of 7 a.m. and 3 p.m., thus he needs six hours absence from his temporary detention at the Makati Medical Center.

Meanwhile, a non-government organization described as a travesty of justice the Sandiganbayan hearings on the involvement of the younger Estrada in alleged plunder, a criminal case filed by the government against the former president.

"Over a year now and only on the promise by the Ombudsman that it will present evidence to link the former mayor to the alleged plunder case, Jinggoy Estrada is still in jail," Felix Dalay, a director of United for the Restoration of Law and Justice (URLJ) said.

According to Dalay, the Ombudsman until now has failed to directly link the younger Estrada to any alleged plunder case.

URLJ is monitoring cases of grave injustice, claiming that one reason there is economic slow down is that lawlessness is prevalent and the justice system is not working.

Dalay said "if this can happen to a mayor in Metro Manila aside from being the son of a President, you can just imagine what will happen to ordinary citizens should the government decide to bring one to his knees."

He said the government is not helping itself in regaining the confidence of the people in the justice system with the circus on the Jinggoy Estrada case. – Jose Rodel Clapano