Jinggoy seeks Sandiganbayan OK to conduct hearings

(Updated 1:21 p.m.) Senator Jinggoy Estrada on Monday made good his promise to ask the Sandiganbayan to allow him to conduct committee hearings while in detention facing plunder and graft charges in connection with the alleged pork barrel scam.

 

In his motion filed trough his lawyer Jose Flaminiano, Estrada said he wants to conduct hearings to expedite the lawmaking process.

"Sen. Estrada has no intention of shirking from his duty as a aenator and as chairman of the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources development. Neither would he allow himself to be the cause of any delay in enacting the priority bills," the seven-page motion said.

 

The motion stated that Estrada is a duly elected and incumbent senator of the country, and should thus be allowed to conduct committee meetings. 

 

There are currently 168 bills pending before the labor committee, of those 12 are priority bills which require immediate review and action by the committee, the motion said.

 

In addition to the seven page motion, Estrada's counsel attached a 40-page annex indicating all bills pending in the labor committee.

 

The motion is set to be heard Friday, August 22.

 

Earlier, Estrada said that he also still files bills, even from within prison.

 

Estrada is currently detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center, on allegations that he pocketed millions in government funds by supposedly diverting his Priority Development Assistance Fund allocations to bogus non-government organizations associated with alleged pork scam brains Janet Lim-Napoles.

 

While in prison, Estrada said he has a new found appreciation of the problems of the country's criminal justice system, adding that he has filed bills to decongest prisons.

 

Estrada has been ordered suspended by the Sandiganbayan Fifth for 90 days in connection with the alleged pork barrel scam.

 

But the Senate has yet to implement the suspension orders against Estrada and his two co-accused colleagues – Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile and Senator Ramon Bong Revilla Jr. – since the decision of the anti-graft court is not yet final. — RSJ, GMA News