Manila City Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada submits his son, Senator Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada to the Philippine National Police through PNP CIDG Director, Police Director Benjamin Magalong before undergoing mandatory booking procedure at Camp Crame, Quezon City after the Sandiganbayan 5th Division issued the Warrant of Arrest against the Senator in connection with a Plunder Case. FILE PHOTO/PNP-PIO
MANILA, Philippines—Detained Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada has asked the Supreme Court to stop the Sandiganbayan from proceeding with the plunder and graft cases filed against him in connection with the pork barrel scam.
In a 65-page petition for certiorari, Estrada through lawyer Sabino Acut Jr. also asked the high court to nullify the joint resolution dated March 28, 2014 and June 4, 2014 issued by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales finding probable cause to prosecute him for plunder and violation of the anti-graft law.
He said Morales denied his right to due process and the equal protection of the laws. Estrada through counsel explained that the Commission on Audit Special Report stated that 300 legislators are involved in the alleged PDAF scam and yet only he, Revilla and Enrile were investigated and charged before the Ombudsman.
“The continuation of further proceedings against Senator Estrada by the Office of the Ombudsman, which has been ousted of its jurisdiction by virtue of its violation of Senator Estrada’s constitutional rights, as well as the proceedings before the Sandiganbayan, will work injustice and cause grave and irreparable injury to him as he will be required to go through the hardship of submitting himself to trial , which would tend to render any judgment in this petition ineffectual,” the petition stated.
Estrada said his indictment is part of the political ploy to undermine the opposition in the coming 2016 presidential elections.
Estrada said allies and members of the administration such as Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala have also been implicated in the PDAF scam, but the government did not lift a finger to subject them to an investigation.
He added that even the signed affidavits of Napoles containing her alleged “tell-all” on the PDAF scam had been dismissed by the National Bureau of Investigation without any investigation.
“The fact that there is selective prosecution, or rather persecution, is further proven by the fact that there existed documents that implicated other members of the legislature other than Sen. Estrada, Sen. Revilla and Sen. Enrile and yet all these legislators have not been investigated,” Estrada said.
He further argued that the filing of plunder case against him has no basis considering the failure of the Ombudsman to establish that he has amassed ill-gotten wealth in the amount of at least P50 million, which is one of the important elements of plunder.
“Apart from bare allegations and hearsay evidence, there is no proof that Sen. Estrada received, amassed, accumulated or acquired a single centavo out of his PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) allocation through a combination or series of overt criminal acts,” the petition stated.
He said the funds that were the subject of the controversy had been released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) directly to the implementing agencies and from the implementing agencies to the local government units or the non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
“It is not disputed that Senator Estrada never had control or custody of a single centavo of the funds,” the petition stated.
He added that there was also no proof that he had instructed anyone to divert any funds for his personal use. Even whistleblower Benhur Luy, he said, failed to show proof that he personally received kickbacks from the PDAF funds.
“Even Ruby Tuason, assuming that her testimony is credible and believable , never said that she had delivered to Senator Estrada such sums of money which is anywhere near P50,000,000,” he said.
“Clearly, all of the supposed evidence against Senator Estrada upon which the finding of probable cause is based constitute nothing more than pure hearsay testimony which has no probative value whatsoever,” it further stated.
He added that the non-government organizations (NGOs) that implemented his PDAF projects have links with alleged pork barrel mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.
“The subject NGOs were all registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and accredited by the respective implementing agencies before the endorsements were made,” he pointed out.
He further explained that act of partnering up with NGOs to undertake projects predetermined by the General Appropriations Act was in line with Republic Act No. 7160 (Local Government Code) and Article II, Section 23 of the Constitution which states that: “The State shall encourage non-governmental, community-based, or sectoral organizations that promote the welfare of the nation.”
He noted that under appropriate rules governing such projects, only the implementing agency had the power to choose the specific NGO to carry out the project.
Estrada added that under Commission on Audit Circular No. 95-003, it is the mandate of the implementing agencies to oversee the implementation of the PDAF projects.
“Further, Senator Estrada received no word that there was anything wrong with respect to the NGOs eventually selected to undertake the PDAF projects. If there was anything wrong with the endorsement, Sen. Estrada should have received word from either the implementing agency or the COA itself which conducts post-audit of these projects,” the petition said.
Revilla has also filed a similar petition before the Supreme Court.
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