Sandiganbayan chief: No arrest warrant for Estrada, four others in plunder case yet

The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division has not issued a warrant of arrest against Senator Jinggoy Estrada for plunder in connection with alleged involvement in anomalous flood control projects, Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Geraldine Econg said.

“Wala pa kasi may mga motions [si Estrada] na pending,” Econg told reporters.

She was referring to the urgent motion to withdraw the issuance of warrant of arrest filed by Estrada on Friday noon before the Sandiganbayan’s Second and Fifth Divisions through his lawyers.

(There is no warrant yet because there are motions still to be resolved.)

Asked if this would mean that no warrant will be issued by the Fifth Division unless Estrada’s urgent motion to withdraw the issuance of a warrant of arrest is resolved, Econg replied “if it will impact the court’s actions, yes.”

Plunder is a non-bailable offense, which means that an accused will be detained as soon as the warrant of arrest is issued.

An individual accused of plunder would have to file a bail petition and secure the court's approval of such petition to secure temporary liberty while the case is pending.

Earlier in the day, the Sandiganbayan Second Division headed by Econg issued warrants of arrest against Estrada and his co-accused in the flood control graft case, former Public Works chief Manuel Bonoan.

Estrada and Bonoan, however, immediately posted a P90,000 bail each to secure their temporary liberty.

Econg then said that her division was able to issue warrants of arrest and corresponding Hold Departure Orders since their deliberations on the merits of the graft case filed agaimst the two began before Estrada filed his urgent motion to withdraw the issuance of the warrant.

“In our case, we acted on the case before the motions [of Estrada] were filed. That is why when we looked at the case, there are no pending motions,” Econg said.

“We had a deliberation and right away we discussed if there is probable cause,” she added.—LDF, GMA News