Sen. Estrada hires Flaminiano for plunder case

Atty. Jose B. Flaminiano. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/JIM GUIAO PUNZALAN

MANILA, Philippines – Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada said Friday the lawyer to handle his defense in the plunder case against him would be the same one who took on the case of his father, former President Joseph Estrada.

Estrada, now Manila mayor, was convicted of plunder but was subsequently pardoned by his successor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The legislator told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that former state prosecutor Jose Flaminiano would be his lead counsel in the plunder charges filed against him, along with fellow senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Bong Revilla and several other people, including Janet Lim Napoles.

He said Estelito Mendoza, one of the country’s legal luminaries, will be handling only the issue of whether his passport should be cancelled by the Department of Foreign Affairs as requested by the Department of Justice in light of the plunder charges.

Flaminiano was one of the lawyers of the elder Estrada when the then chief executive faced the Senate sitting as impeachment court in late 2000.  He then continued as Estrada’s legal counsel when he was charged with plunder in the Sandiganbayan.

Flaminiano more recently was engaged as counsel by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Related Stories:

Enrile, Revilla, Estrada vow to fight plunder raps

Napoles, 37 others face plunder, graft raps

Estrada’s plunder conviction remembered