Sen. Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada —Joseph Vidal/Senate Social Media Unit
The antigraft court on Friday convicted Sen. Jinggoy Estrada of direct and indirect bribery for pocketing P6.7 million in payoffs in connection with the alleged misuse of his pork barrel funds during his early years in the Senate and sentenced him to a maximum of 16 years in prison.
The Sandiganbayan, however, acquitted the 60-year-old senator and his coaccused, businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, of the more serious charge of plunder involving P183 million of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), saying it found insufficient evidence to convict them.
Estrada was jubilant over his acquittal in the plunder case, which carries the maximum penalty of 40 years in prison.
Threshold amount
“This is a vindication of my name, and I am emerging victorious at this point,” he told reporters after the promulgation where the Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division announced its decision.
“I would like to thank the [Sandiganbayan] justices for exonerating me of the plunder charge against me. That means to say I did not steal any money, I did not receive any money,” he said outside the courtroom.
Estrada and his lawyers said they would appeal his bribery conviction up to the Supreme Court.
The court cleared Estrada and Napoles of plunder based on “reasonable doubt” due to the “failure of the prosecution to prove that the threshold amount has been met or that [Estrada] amassed, accumulated or acquired, directly or indirectly, an ill-gotten wealth in the amount of at least P50 [million].”
It cited an inquiry report by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) that showed “only a total amount of P36.5 million [was] found to have been deposited into Estrada’s personal bank accounts.”
Under Republic Act No. 7080, a public official, on his own or in connivance with other individuals, commits plunder when the amount of government funds amassed is equivalent to at least P50 million.
Mastermind
Napoles is the alleged mastermind of the P10-billion pork barrel scam that implicated some lawmakers. It was exposed by the Inquirer a decade ago. She was convicted of seven counts of corruption of public officials—five counts in connection with direct bribery for which the court sentenced her to a maximum of 10 years for each count, and two counts related to indirect bribery, for which she would be imprisoned for two years per count.
She participated in Friday’s court hearing through an online link from the Correctional Institute for Women where she is serving time for at least seven plunder and other convictions.
The court said it found Estrada guilty of one count of direct bribery and sentenced him to a minimum of eight years to a maximum of nine years and four months in prison, and fined P3 million.
Suspended
It said the senator also was guilty of two counts of indirect bribery, for which he will serve prison time for each count of at least two years and four months and a maximum of three years, six months and 20 days.
In addition to imprisonment, Estada was also suspended from public office and “perpetual special disqualification” from his right of suffrage.
The senator was unfazed by the bribery conviction.
“Nothing is final … that is appealable,” Estrada said. “We will file the necessary motion for reconsideration before the (Sandiganbayan). I will instruct my lawyers to exhaust all legal remedies.”
Estrada’s lawyer Alexis Abastillas Suarez said his acquittal in the plunder case was a “big victory” for the senator.
“But in the charges of direct and indirect bribery, we don’t know the basis of the court for these charges because bribery was not part of the information,” she said, referring to the charges against Estrada filed in the antigraft court. “So, it is not connected to the information on the crime of plunder.”
Inquirer series
According to her, none of the witnesses had testified that Estrada received any money. “So for us, it can’t be bribery,” she said.
The pork barrel scam, exposed by the Inquirer in a series of reports starting in July 2013, involved the funneling or diversion of tens of millions of pesos of PDAF allocations from lawmakers to ghost projects of bogus nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) over the years. In exchange, some senators and members of the House of Representatives and their staff allegedly received hefty payoffs or commissions from Napoles.
In its decision on Friday, the court ordered Napoles to pay P262.034 million to the government, with an interest of 6 percent per annum, until the full amount is paid. The amount is equivalent to the funds funneled to her bogus NGOs, it said.
In June 2014, nearly a year after the Inquirer exposé, the Office of the Ombudsman charged Estrada and his aide Pauline Therese Mary Labayen with plunder along with Napoles and her longtime employee Raymund de Asis. Labayen and De Asis are at large.
P1M ‘bribe money’
Estrada was arrested after the case was filed in the Sandiganbayan. He was released from police detention in September 2017 when the court granted his bail petition.
In its 396-page decision on Jan. 19, the Sandiganbayan pointed to the P1 million in “bribe money” deposited to Estrada’s Bank of Commerce account on Sept. 18, 2008. At the time, Estrada was serving his first term as a senator after his election in the 2004 polls.
The transaction, the court said, was based on the corroborating evidence from Benhur Luy’s records and the AMLC report. Luy, Napoles’ cousin, blew the lid off the scam after he was supposedly detained by the businesswoman.
For the two counts of indirect bribery, the court cited the P1.5 million received by Estrada from Napoles through her “collecting agent” Ruby Tuason. This was an “advance commission” because at that time there was no agreement yet on the project where his pork barrel would be utilized. Tuason became a state witness.
Another instance cited by the court was the P4.2 million received by Estrada from Napoles as a “second tranche” upon the issuance of a Special Allotment Release Order (Saro).
‘Mere afterthought’
Tuason testified that Estrada decided to return this amount after “a few days.” But in the court’s view, the senator’s action “seems to be a mere afterthought.”
“In indirect bribery, mere acceptance of money or gift by reason of the public officer’s position without the latter necessarily performing or refraining from doing any act will already consummate the crime,” the court ruled.
“Accused Estrada became liable for indirect bribery the moment that he accepted and kept the amount given to him,” the court said, adding that the senator “obviously intended to appropriate the money as his own since he accepted the money without hesitation.”
“In fact, he even thanked Ruby Tuason after receiving the said amount,” it said.
The antigraft court’s Fifth Division is chaired by Associate Justice Rafael Lagos. The two other members are Associate Justices Maria Theresa Mendoza-Arcega and Maryann Corpus-Mañalac.
Staying in Senate
Despite his conviction, Estrada will continue serving as senator because he had already posted a cash bond of P1.3 million for the plunder charge, on top of the P2-million travel bond he had already paid, according to his lawyer, Suarez.
Aside from the plunder case, Estrada is also facing 11 counts of graft in the same division in the Sandiganbayan.
“[The] graft case is ongoing, but because of the victory in the plunder [case] … we’ll see. It’s connected,” Suarez said.
READ: Jinggoy Estrada to remain senator until Sandigan ruling is final – Zubiri
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said the chamber would have to wait for the final judgment on Estrada’s cases before acting on the penalties imposed by the Sandiganbayan.
“Until and unless the decision becomes final and executory, (Estrada) is duty-bound to continue performing his functions as senator of the republic,” he said.
Well wishes from JV
In a statement, Estrada said he was determined to fully vindicate himself.
“My faith in our judicial system has not wavered despite what happened, the reason why there will be no letup in pursuing the truth and clearing my name,” he said.
“I owe this to my supporters, especially my family who stood by me throughout the trial,” Estrada said. “This exoneration not only impacts my personal and political life, but also that of my family as well.”
He maintained that he did not pocket public funds despite the court’s ruling that he received bribe money from Napoles.
Estrada received expressions of support from his colleagues, among them his half-brother, Sen. JV Ejercito.
“I urge everyone to respect the wisdom and fairness of our justice system. Our justice system, despite its imperfection, is there to maintain law and order, protect our rights and provide justice,” Ejercito said. “I wish him well and will continue to pray for Senator Jinggoy Estrada and his family.” —WITH REPORTS FROM MARLON RAMOS AND INQUIRER RESEARCH