MANILA, Philippines – Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada on Monday asked the Sandiganbayan to allow him to conduct committee hearings while he is detained for plunder over the pork barrel scam.
Sen. Jinggoy Estrada
In a motion for leave, Estrada said he chairs the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources development, which is evaluating 168 pending bills, 12 of which are priority pieces of legislation.
“Senator Estrada has no intention of shirking away from his duty as Senator and as chairman of the Senate committee… Neither would he allow himself to be the cause of delay in enacting the priority bills,” the motion read.
“Senator Estrada respectfully requests that this Honorable court allow him and his committee to conduct hearings and conferences even while in detention to expedite the passage of the much needed laws,” it added.
Estrada said a senator holding hearings while under detention has happened before.
He cited the case of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who was allowed to conduct hearings in 2007 and 2010 while he was detained for treason for the failed Oakwood mutiny.
Estrada said Trillanes was even allowed to have committee hearings in the Philippine National Police Custodial Center, where Estrada is now detained for plunder.
“The grant of this request is not without precedent,” the motion read.
Estrada was charged with plunder and graft over the pork barrel scam, of which billions of state funds were allegedly funneled to ghost projects for kickbacks under the scheme of alleged mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.
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