Jinggoy runs to SC anew, contests charges, arrest

Detained in connection with the alleged pork barrel scam, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada sought intervention from the Supreme Court to stop the Sandiganbayan from hearing his plunder and graft cases and to invalidate the arrest warrant issued against him.

In a petition for certiorari with request for a temporary restraining order, Estrada said the joint resolution and the joint order issued by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales on March 28, 2014 and June 4, 2014—which led to the filing of charges against him—should be declared null and void because his right to due process and the equal protection had been violated.

“The continuation of further proceedings against Sen. Estrada by the Office of the Ombudsman, which has been ousted of its jurisdiction by virtue of its violation of Sen. Estrada's constitutional rights, as well as the proceedings before the Sandiganbayan, will work injustice and cause grave and  irreparable injury to him as he will be required to go through the hardship of submitting himself to trial, which would tend to render any judgment in this petition ineffectual,” the petition read.

Estrada voluntarily submitted himself to the police on Monday even before his arrest warrant could be served to him. He is currently detained at Camp Crame in Quezon City.

Estrada claimed his right to equal protection of the laws was violated since only him and fellow senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Ramon Bong Revilla Jr. were investigated and eventually prosecuted by the government despite a Commission on Audit Special Report implicating 300 other legislators in the scam.

Selective persecution

Estrada stressed that Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala have all been implicated in the scam, but the government does not seem keen on investigating and filing charges against them.

“The fact that there is selective prosecution, or rather persecution, is further proven by the fact that there existed documents that implicated other members of the legislature other than Sen. Estrada, Sen. Revilla and Sen. Enrile and yet all these legislators have not been investigated,” the petition read.

Estrada reiterated that the government still has no evidence to prove he received kickbacks from the scam, or that he ordered the diversion of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations, or pork barrel, through bogus foundations of alleged scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

“Apart from bare allegations and hearsay evidence, there is no proof that Sen. Estrada received, amassed, accumulated or acquired a single centavo out of his PDAF allocation through a combination or series of overt criminal acts,” the petition read.

“It is not disputed  that Sen. Estrada never had control or custody of a single centavo of the funds,” it added.

Pure hearsay testimony

He noted that both whistleblower Benhur Luy and government witness Ruby Tuason did not claim that they personally saw Estrada receive his supposed commissions.

“Ruby Tuason, assuming that her testimony is credible and believable, never said that she had delivered to Sen. Estrada such sums of money which is anywhere near P50,000,000,” read the petition.

“Clearly, all of the supposed evidence against Sen. Estrada upon which the finding of probable cause is based constitute nothing more than pure hearsay testimony which has no probative value whatsoever,” the petition read.

Estrada noted that under appropriate rules governing the use of PDAF funds, only the implementing agencies have the power to choose the specific non-government organization to carry out the project.

Blame the implementing agencies

He added that under Commission on Audit Circular No. 95-003, it is the mandate of the implementing agencies to oversee the implementation of PDAF-funded projects.

“While the... complaints mentioned endorsement of certain NGOs, these were at best recommendatory, with the choice of NGO left to the implementing agency to be determined in accordance with the pertinent law and implementing rules,” Estrada's petition read.

“Further, Senator Estrada received no word that there was anything wrong with respect to the NGOs eventually selected to undertake the PDAF projects. If there was anything wrong with the endorsement, Sen. Estrada should have received word from either the implementing agency or the COA itself which conducts post-audit of these projects,” it added.

2nd attempt

This was Estrada's second attempt to contest pork barrel-related proceedings against him after his first attempt in May.

In that petition, he asked the Supreme Court to review the Office of the Ombudsman's decision denying him access to affidavits of government witnesses in the alleged pork barrel scam.

Estrada said the Ombudsman “grievously ignored” his right to due process when it decided to recommended charges against him based on evidence “not disclosed to him.”
He also claimed that the Ombudsman “effectively prevented” him from exercising “his right to answer and to rebut” allegations by not furnishing him copies of his accusers' sworn statements. —KBK, GMA News