Go easy on Jinggoy, solon asks Sandigan

An opposition congressman urged the Sandiganbayan yesterday to be lenient on former San Juan Mayor Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada and to grant him bail.

Rep. Gilbert Remulla (LDP, Cavite) made the appeal in the wake of expectations that the Sandiganbayan special division hearing the plunder cases against ousted President Joseph Estrada and son Jinggoy would soon decide on the latter’s petition for bail.

Remulla said the evidence against Jinggoy appears lighter than that against the former president and the former San Juan mayor should therefore be entitled to bail.

He said based on the prosecutors’ own admission, the former San Juan mayor allegedly received protection money from jueteng operators totaling only P2 million – P1 million in January 2000 and another P1 million one month later.

He cited the provision to the law on plunder, which is committed by "any public officer who, by himself or in connivance with members of his family, relatives by affinity or consanguinity, business associates, subordinates or other persons, amasses, accumulates or acquires ill-gotten wealth through a combination or series of overt or criminal acts ... in the aggregate amount or total value of at least P50 million..."

The penalty for plunder is life imprisonment or death.

Remulla said the amount that Jinggoy allegedly plundered is so small as to be used as a ground to deny him his right to bail.

He said the anti-graft court should also consider the degree of participation of an accused in a plunder case.

He said in Jinggoy’s case, the degree of his participation in the alleged crime does not justify the imposition of the penalty of life imprisonment or death.

If the former mayor is found guilty, he would most likely be meted out a lighter punishment and he should therefore be freed on bail, he added.

Besides, Remulla pointed out that releasing Jinggoy on bail would boost the Arroyo administration’s efforts to achieve national unity and reconciliation.

The Estrada forces would see it as a genuine gesture on the part of the administration to heal the wounds of the past, he stressed.