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JINGGOY STAYS IN JAIL

Sandiganbayan denies Estrada’s bail petition in pork scam case


The Sandiganbayan has denied the bail petition of Senator Jinggoy Estrada in connection with his alleged involvement in the multi-billion-peso pork barrel scam.

In a 215-page ruling, the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division found the prosecution's pieces of evidence strong enough to deny Estrada's plea to be released on bail.

Alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles' petition for bail in connection with Estrada's plunder case has also been denied.

“Emptied of all public insinuations and political overtones that has incessantly hovered over this case from the beginning, and while this ruling does not portent to be a judgment of conviction for both accused, this Court has found that the prosecution has established a strong evidence of guilt to deny the bail petitions of both accused,” the Fifth Division’s resolution posted on its website Thursday afternoon, read.

http://sb.judiciary.gov.ph/RESOLUTIONS/2016/A_Crim_SB-14-CRM-0239_Estrada,%20et%20al_01_07_2016.pdf

The resolution, promulgated on Jan. 7, 2016, was signed by Fifth Division Chairman Associate Justice Roland Jurado and members, Associate Justices Alexander Gesmundo and Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomez-Estoesta.

Attorney Alexis Abastillas-Suarez, Estrada's lawyer, confirmed the court's denial of the senator’s petition for bail, but refused to give a comment saying that their camp has yet to read the copy of the resolution.

Suarez said the decision, sealed in an envelope, was served by court personnel to the law office of Sabino Acut Jr., another lawyer of Estrada, on Thursday afternoon.

“I will confirm [that the bail petition was denied]. Nakatanggap [ng decision] ang opisina ni Attorney Acut. Ngayon lang hapon sinerve sa kanila,” Suarez said in a phone interview.

“It [court’s resolution] consists of 200 pages. Hindi pa namin nababasa kaya hindi muna kami makakapag-comment,” she added.

In a text message sent to reporters, Office of the Ombudsman Public Information and Media Relations Bureau acting director Rawnsle Lopez, confirmed that the Ombudsman’s Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) was likewise served with a copy of the resolution.

In its resolution, the Fifth Division said Estrada’s personal endorsement of two of the fake non-government organizations (NGOs) allegedly owned by Napoles namely the Masaganang Ani Para sa Magsasaka Foundation Inc. (MAMFI) and the Social Development Program for Farmers Foundation Inc. (SDPFFI) to be the partner NGOs in implementing his PDAF-funded projects is proof of his involvement in the pork scam.

“Together with private accused Janet Lim Napoles, and the latter’s manifold networking group most of whom later turned into whistleblowers, Senator Estrada is, as prosecution evidence would strongly show, at the apex of the ‘PDAF scam’,” the resolution read.

The court pointed out that several Special Allotment Release Orders (SAROs) issued by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to the government implementing agencies (IAs) would not have been completed without the project listings from the senator’s office.

“The release of his PDAF allocations through subject SAROs was his own means to an end,” the court said.

The court further pointed out that the IAs then transferred Estrada’s PDAF allocation to MAMFI and SDPFFI as these fake NGOs were endorsed by the senator to be his “partners” in implementing his supposed projects.

“Evidently, as soon as SARO was released to a designated IA, Senator Estrada’s active participation in the project implementation loomed further. Senator Estrada himself would sign a letter addressed to the IA concerned endorsing a particular NGO or in this case, SDPFFI and MAMFI, which were referred to as ‘partners’ supposed to ‘expedite the implementation’ of the priority project to whom the funds were eventually released,” the court said.

The court also gave weight on the testimony of whistleblower Ruby Tuason, who testified that she acted as the “bagman” of Estrada for his alleged kickbacks from the pork scam.

The court pointed out that while Tuason could not remember a lot of details when she testified against Estrada at the course of the bail proceedings, “this did not necessarily diminish the worth of her testimony” especially as she positively testified that she personally delivered kickbacks to the latter.

“Human memory is fickle and prone to the stresses of emotions and the passage of time; hence, accuracy in a testimonial account has never been used as a standard in testing the credibility of a witness,” the court said.

“She may not have remembered the exact amount of money personally delivered to Senator Estrada, approximating the same to be about P19 million, but this was more because she did not keep ledgers or records of her own PDAF transactions,” it added.

Estrada has repeatedly said earlier that Tuason has an ill motive for testifying against him as the latter allegedly just wanted to save herself from charges over the pork scam and the P900 million Malampaya fund scam.

However, in its resolution, the court said that whatever her motives are, “it is Ruby Tuason’s positive account that she personally delivered kickbacks given by Napoles to Senator Estrada himself which commands serious consideration”.

“For this alone, this Court cannot totally discredit the testimony given by Ruby Tuason,” the court said.

The court also gave credence to the testimony and ledger of pork barrel scam primary state witness Benhur Luy who had earlier said that one of his tasks when he worked as a finance officer of Napoles’ company JLN Corporation was to keep a record the transactions of Napoles’ NGOs with the lawmakers, including the kickbacks the lawmakers such as Estrada received from the pork scam.

“From these data entries, Luy was able to record how much of the PDAF allocations ended up in the hands of Senator Estrada. The boon of the written record showing off the trail of these PDAF transactions would ultimately become the bane to pin both accused in this case,” the court said.

The court also noted of the close similarity between the signatures of Estrada and his alleged dummy Juan Ng as shown in the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) report on the senator’s bank transactions.

“Besides, the observation of AMLC on the close similarity of the ‘unconventional’ signature of Juan T. Ng and that of Senator Estrada cannot be shrugged off easily,” the court said.

The court pointed out that while a witness from the AMLC, Atty. Orlando Negradas Jr. admitted during the hearing, that none of the members of the investigating team is an expert on handwriting analysis, “one need not actually resort to a handwriting expert to spot the general likeness in the surface appearance of the loops and strokes that are instantly evident in the contested signatures”.

“There is basis therefore, to hold AMLC’s findings that Juan Ng’s Metrobank Account No. 071-51027-8, Metrobank Time Deposit Accounts Nos. 407134-6 and 407262-8; Metrobank Account No.1071027951 and Metrobank Account No. 1071033617, were used and controlled by Senator Estrada,” the resolution read.

Estrada is currently detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City since June 2014 for a case of plunder in connection with the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam.

‘Over P180M in kickbacks’

He is accused of amassing P183.793-million worth of kickbacks for allocating his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel from 2004 to 2012 to the fake non-government organizations (NGOs) allegedly owned by Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged brains behind the pork scam.

It was only last month when the Fifth Division concluded the proceedings of Estrada’s bail petition, which it has been hearing since July 2014.

Estrada had earlier expressed confidence that his bail petition will be granted by the court due to the supposed weak evidence of the prosecution team against. — NB/BAP, GMA News

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