Sandiganbayan raffles off cases vs. JV Ejercito, co-accused

A division of the Sandiganbayan handling the cases of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada related to the pork barrel scam will be same division that will be handling a case against his half-brother, Sen. JV Ejercito, over the alleged anomalous purchase of firearms.

This was after the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division was picked to handle one count of graft against Ejercito and his five co-accused during a raffle of the case on Friday.

The Fifth Division is chaired by Associate Justice Roland Jurado while Associate Justice Rafael Lagos sits as senior member and Associate Justice Maria Theresa Mendoza-Arcega as junior member.

Named as Ejercito’s co-accused were members of the San Juan City Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), namely city administrator Ranulfo Dacalos, treasurer Rosalinda Marasigan, city attorney Romualdo Delos Santos, city budget officer Lorenza Ching and city engineer Danilo Mercardo.

The Fifth Division is handling one count of plunder and 11 counts of graft against Estrada in connection with his alleged involvement in the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam.

Estrada is detained at the Philippine National Police  (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City since July 2014.

Meanwhile, picked to handle one count of illegal use of public funds also referred as technical malversation against Ejercito and his 14 co-accused was the Sandiganbayan Sixth Division, a newly constituted division of the anti-graft court that became operational only in January of this year.

The 6th Division is chaired by Associate Justice Rodolfo Ponferrada with Associate Justices Oscar Herrera Jr. and Karl Miranda as senior member and junior member, respectively.

Named as Ejercito’s co-accused in the technical malversation case were incumbent vice mayor Franciso Zamora, former vice-mayor Leonardo Celles and former city councilors Andoni Carballo, Vincent Pacheco, Angelino Mendoza, Dante Santiago, Rolando Bernardo, Grace Pardines, Domingo Sese, Francis Peralta, Edgardo Soriano, Jannah Ejercito-Surla, Ramon Nakpil and Joseph Christopher Torralba.

Ejercito is a former mayor of San Juan City.

Zamora, son of San Juan City Rep. Ronnie Zamora, is running for mayor in the upcoming elections, going against Ejercito's mother incumbent mayor Guia Gomez.

The cases against Ejercito and his co-accused stemmed from the alleged anomalous purchase of high-powered firearms worth P2.1 million in 2008 during his term as mayor of San Juan City.

Based on the information of the cases filed by the Office of the Ombudsman on Wednesday, Ejercito, son of former President and incumbent Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, conspired with San Juan City officials for the unlawful purchase of the firearms.

The Ombudsman said the money used for the purchase came from the city government’s calamity fund, despite the fact that there was no state of calamity at that time.

The Ombudsman further alleged that the purchase was done in haste without competitive bidding and examination of the supplier’s qualifications.

Ejercito has dismissed the charges as “politically motivated” claiming that there was no irregularity found by the Commission on Audit in the purchase.

“The firearms purchase was done accordingly within the law, that is why COA cleared us from any disallowance. My lawyer and I are preparing the next steps to resolve this case, which is clearly politically motivated,” Ejercito said in a text message to reporters. —KBK, GMA News