Jinggoy Estrada confident of acquittal in plunder case

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — On the eve of his arraignment on plunder charges, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada remained optimistic that he would be acquitted because of what his lawyers considered “weak” evidence against him.

But Estrada’s legal team was in no mood to celebrate even if the Office of the Ombudsman failed to amend the case against him, which would have made him the central figure in the pork barrel scam in which he has been accused of pocketing P183.7 million in kickbacks.

“It’s a welcome development for us, but we’re not celebrating,” Alexis Abastillas Suarez, one of the lawyers, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a telephone interview on Sunday. “We can only say that we’re victorious if the case is dismissed.”

Estrada will be arraigned at 8:30 a.m. on Monday in the Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division.

Two days before he surrendered to the anti-graft court last week, the senator told the Inquirer that his immediate priority was to be allowed bail.

His motion for bail has already been submitted for resolution, and Suarez said the burden rested on government prosecutors to prove that they have a strong case against the senator.

On Friday, prosecutors withdrew their motion to amend the information when informed by the Sandiganbayan justices that doing so might result in the release of Estrada from detention. The order to arrest Estrada was based on the original plunder complaint filed by the Ombudsman on June 6.

Suarez said her camp got the impression that the filing of the case against Estrada had been “rushed.”

“Ever since and even during the preliminary investigation, we thought that the evidence is very weak. We are still confident that Senator [Estrada] committed no crime,” she said.

The Ombudsman’s failed attempt to amend the information against Estrada, and earlier against Sen. Bong Revilla, has triggered fears that the government is bungling its cases against public officials and others accused in the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

Suarez said the government prosecutors should not be blamed because “they’re just doing their job.”

“It’s just that the evidence on record against Senator [Estrada] is weak,” she said.

Malacañang does not agree.

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said on Sunday the Department of Justice and other agencies worked to ensure that the cases would stand in court.

“[Cases cannot] be based on mere speculation,” he said in Filipino in an interview over the government-run Radyo ng Bayan. “That’s why [the government] worked to gather strong evidence, authentic documents that would support [the case] presented.”

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