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TIMELINE: Jinggoy’s arrest and detention for plunder case in PDAF scam


(Updated 5:45 p.m., Sept. 2) Senator Jinggoy Estrada on Monday became the second lawmaker to be arrested for the non-bailable charge of plunder in connection with his alleged involvement in the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam orchestrated by supposed mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

Estrada is accused of pocketing P183.79 million from his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations from 2004 to 2010, and faces separate graft charges in the same case.

First elected as senator in 2004, Estrada is currently on his second and last term, which ends in 2016. The opposition senator ranked second in the senatorial race during the 2010 elections, and plans to seek a higher post in the 2016 polls.

This is not the first time Estrada was arrested for plunder.

In 2001, he was detained at Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna for allegedly conspiring with his father, former President Joseph Estrada, in amassing billions of pesos in ill-gotten wealth from jueteng operations and kickbacks from tobacco excise taxes.

The younger Estrada was acquitted by the Sandiganbayan for these plunder charges in 2007. His father was convicted of the crime but was pardoned by then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
 
Below is a timeline of events leading to Senator Estrada's arrest in the latest case:

September 16, 2013
The National Bureau of Investigation files plunder complaints against Napoles, three senators, two former members of the House of Representatives and more than 30 others in connection with a fraudulent scheme that diverted public funds into ghost projects and fake NGOs.

April 1, 2014
The Office of the Ombudsman announces its decision to indict Napoles and the three senators with plunder and graft in connection with the alleged pork barrel scam.

June 6, 2014
The Ombudsman files plunder charges against Senator Estrada and two other senators along with Napoles and several others before the Sandiganbayan.
 
June 20, 2014
Senator Estrada's motion for determination of probable cause in connection with the plunder charges recommended against him by the Office of the Ombudsman is submitted for resolution by the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division.
 
June 23, 2014
8 a.m.
- Senator Estrada packs clothes in preparation for his impending arrest and detention, and vows to prove his innonence.
 
10:20 a.m. - The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division issues an arrest warrant against Senator Estrada after finding probable cause to continue court proceedings on plunder charges against him.
 
11:30 a.m. - Senator Estrada proceeds to the house of his father, Manila Mayor Estrada in North Greenhills in San Juan City.  

12 noon - Senator Estrada turns himself in at Camp Crame, where the Sandiganbayan sheriff is expected to serve the warrant of arrest. The senator will undergo booking procedures and medical examination prior to detention at the PNP Custodial Center.

1:50 p.m. - Claiming the evidence in the plunder charges "is not strong," Senator Estrada's camp asks the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division to allow the lawmaker to post bail
 
2:25 p.m. - PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac says Senator Estrada's blood pressure, pulse rate and body temperature are "essentially normal" when he surrendered to authorities. 
 
3:30 p.m. - After the release of his commitment order from the Sandiganbayan, Senator Estrada is transferred to  the PNP Custodial Center, where Senator Ramon Bong Revilla Jr. is also detained for plunder charges in connection with the pork barrel scam. 

June 23, 2014 - Malacañang announces the appointment of Manila Regional Trial Court Presiding Judge Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomez-Estoesta as new Sandiganbayan associate justice. Estoesta is expected to fill the vacancy in the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division, which is hearing the plunder and graft cases against Estrada. 
 
June 24, 2014 - Through a petition for certiorari with request for a temporary restraining order, Estrada's camp asks the Supreme Court to stop the Sandiganbayan from hearing his plunder and graft cases, and to invalidate the arrest warrant issued against him. Estrada's lawyers said the senator's right to due process had been violated, and the continuation of court proceedings against him will "cause grave and  irreparable injury."

June 26, 2014 - The Ombudsman asks the Sandiganbayan to amend Estrada's plunder case by emphasizing that the senator "amassed, accumulated and acquired ill-gotten wealth in connivance or in conspiracy with his accused public officer and private individuals.” The Ombudsman also asked for a similar amendment to Revilla's plunder case, but this was junked by the Sandiganbayan First Division.

June 27, 2014 - The Ombudsman withdrew its motion to amend Estrada's plunder case after Associate Justice Roland Jurado, Sandiganbayan Fifth Division chairperson, warned prosecutors that revisions in the case may lead to Estrada's release from detention. 

June 30, 2014
8 a.m. - Estrada arrives at the Sandiganbayan from his detention facility in Camp Crame for his arraignment. Napoles was also brought to the Sandigayan from Fort Sto. Domingo in Laguna to be arraigned.
 
past 8:50 a.m. - Citing two pending petitions before the Supreme Court, Estrada refuses to enter any plea in his plunder case. This prompted the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division to enter a not guilty plea on his behalf. Napoles meanwhile pleaded not guilty for plunder. 

past 3 p.m. - The Ombudsman asks the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division to suspend Estrada in connection with the plunder charges filed against him.

July 4, 2014
The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division gave Estrada's camp 10 days to answer the Ombudsman's motion to suspend him as senator.

July 8, 2014
 
7:50 a.m. - Estrada leaves the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame for his bail hearing in connection with charges lodged against him over the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

10:40 a.m. - The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division on Tuesday cuts short the hearing due to the amount of documents the prosecution wants to present.

July 14, 2014
 
 
July 15, 2014
 
Estrada arrives at the Sandiganbayan for his bail hearing in relation to the plunder charges lodged against him.
 
July 18, 2014
 
The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division orders the suspension of Estrada for 90 days in connection with the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam.

July 22, 2014

2:48 p.m. - Estrada's defense panel in his bail hearing questions discrepancy in the prosecution's presentation of documents supposedly showing the recipients of projects funded by Estrada's pork barrel allocations.

July 30, 2014

7:19 p.m. - Estrada formally asks the Sandiganbayan to block his transfer to an ordinary jail cell.

August 1, 2014

4:18 p.m. - Estrada asks the court to reconsider its decision to suspend him for 90 days, claiming the prosecutors’ request lacks merit, made in bad faith as well as meant to punish him and his constituents.

August 5, 2014

12:39 p.m. - Ombudsman field investigator, lawyer Vic Escalante, says deceased people, and even a toddler, were listed among the beneficiaries of supposed projects funded by the pork barrel allocations of Estrada.

3:48 p.m. - Estrada dares government prosecutors to present their main witnesses who will supposedly directly link him to the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam.

August 11, 2014

3:52 p.m. - Estrada files motion against moves to have him suspended for up to three years.

9:01 p.m. - Estrada accuses the prosecution of laying the basis for his suspension from the Senate for 1,080 days or almost three years.

August 12, 2014

8:29 a.m. - Estrada's bail hearing continues.

August 18, 2014

12:30 p.m. - Estrada files motion urging the Fifth Division to allow him to conduct committee hearings while in detention to expedite the passage of several bills. Estrada chairs the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources development.

August 22, 2014

9:56 a.m. - The Fifth Division postpones the hearing on the prosecution's motion to transfer Estrada to a regular jail facility due to a subpoena issued to the wrong jail warden of Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.

August 26, 2014

Estrada files appeal to remain at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame, saying that he is a high-profile and high-risk inmate, and that his transfer to an ordinary jail facility of BJMP poses a threat to his security.

6:06 p.m. - Estrada files motion seeking to disqualify DOJ Undersecretary Jose Justiniano as member of the prosecution team handling the pork barrel scam cases.

August 29, 2014

10:08 a.m. - The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division upholds its decision to suspend Estrada from his Senate post for 90 days.

12:22 p.m. - The director of the BJMP-NCR admits before the Justices of the Fift Division that Camp Bagong Diwa lacks the facility and personnel to detain and secure a high-profile inmate like Estrada

September 2, 2014

3:48 p.m. - The Senate implements the 90-day suspension order issued by the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division on Estrada.

— Andreo Calonzo, Amanda Fernandez and Elizabeth Marcelo/RSJ/YA/KG/NB/KBK/BM, GMA News

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