Jinggoy Estrada: ‘I will be acquitted’

Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada asks question to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Wednesday as she failed to get the confirmation of the powerful Commission on Appointments amid oppositions and questions raised. NINO JESUS ORBETA/INQUIRER

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada was confident that he would be acquitted of all charges against him if the Sandiganbayan would dispose a “fair justice.”

Estrada made the statements on Friday after his cases had been raffled off to Sandiganbayan’s fifth division under Associate Justices Roland Jurado and Alexander Gasmundo.

“It does not matter if Jurado is an appointee of President Aquino or not. I hope and pray that the Sandiganbayan  will dispose a fair justice. They should be fair,” the senator said in mixed Filipino and English in an interview.

“In a fair play, I think I will be acquitted of all the charges,” he said.

Estrada stressed that whether or not a justice that would handle his case was an appointee of the President, the court should exercise fair play.

“I and maybe the Sandiganbayan as a whole will exercise fair play in dispensing our case. The merit of the case should be looked into first,” said the senator.
“I don’t trust the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice. I’m pinning my hopes on the Sandiganbayan and the Supreme Court,” he added.

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