The anti-graft court Sandiganbayan today announced that former senator Jinggoy Estrada and his co-accused Janet Napoles have been granted clearance by the court to seek the outright dismissal of their plunder cases.
In seeking the dismissal of their plunder cases, Estrada and Napoles were not even required to present counter-evidence, the Philippine Star reported. They were asked to present demurrers to evidence, which seek to dismiss the case based solely on the prosecution’s supposedly weak evidence.
Estrada has defended himself by saying that the evidence presented by the prosecution has failed to identify him as the mastermind behind the pork barrel scam, The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.
The two were given 10 days to file the demurrers.
If the demurrers are granted, Rappler reported, both of them will be acquitted of plunder. If it’s denied, the trial will proceed.
The two were accused of pocketing PHP183 million (US$3.464 million) from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) the government provides lawmakers.
The resolution commenting on Estrada’s request to file a dismissal reads: “After a careful examination of the totality of the evidence presented by the prosecution, both testimonial and documentary, the court resolves to grant the present motion of the accused (Estrada), to sufficiently provide him an opportunity to challenge the sufficiency of the prosecution’s evidence establishing the material elements of the offense charged to support a judgment of guilt.”
According to ABS-CBN, the separate resolution for Napoles had the same content. Both documents were signed by Division Chairperson Rafael Lagos, Associate Justices Maria Theresa Mendoza-Arcega, and Maryann Corpus-Manalac.
In 2013, Estrada and his then-colleagues in the Senate, Ramon Revilla and Juan Ponce Enrile, were accused of receiving kickbacks from the government’s PDAF or pork barrel.
The PDAF is a fund given to members of the country’s House of Representatives and the Senate. Initiated in 1990, the fund is supposed to be used to fund small-scale infrastructure projects and social services, but have been the subject of numerous cases of alleged corruption.
This includes Estrada’s case where his PDAF was allegedly funneled to the projects of several questionable non-government organizations, some of which were linked to Napoles, ABS-CBN News reported. The witness Benhur Luy, who worked for Napoles, said he transacted with Estrada, whom he gave the alias “Sexy.”
After Revilla was acquitted of his plunder case in December, Estrada said he became confident that he will be exonerated as well.
Estrada is currently out on bail which was granted to him by the Sandiganbayan in September 2017. Like Revilla and Enrile, he’s aiming to return to politics by running for the Senate in this year’s midterm elections.
Estrada has been charged with plunder in the past. He was acquitted of the crime in 2007, while his co-accused and father, former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, the elder Estrada was granted pardon by then-president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo shortly after his conviction.
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