Sandigan Justice: Ombudsman complaining about slow pork scam case

An Associate Justice in the Sandiganbayan told state lawyers to hurry up prosecution of lawmakers in the alleged pork barrel scam lest they risk the ire of their boss in the Ombudsman.

During the bail hearing from plunder of detained senator Jinggoy Estrada on Monday, Associate Justice Roland Jurado said he watched an interview of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales in ABS-CBN. Morales is a former Supreme Court justice.

“I saw the interview of your boss. Your boss is complaining,” Jurado told the prosecution.

Jurado, who chairs the Fifth Division hearing Estrada’s plunder case, said the prosecutors in the First Division handling the plunder case of Senator Ramon Revilla Jr. only presented nine witnesses. Revilla was denied bail after only four months of bail hearings.

Meanwhile, Estrada’s bail hearing has been going on since the plunder cases were filed in June last year.

“Justice Morales wants to expedite this case. I also want to expedite this case,” Jurado said.

The antigraft court is hearing the plunder and graft cases of senators Revilla, Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile, and former representatives Rizalina Lanete and Edgar Valdez, as well as the malversation cases of former solons Samuel Dangwa, Rodolfo Plaza, and Constantino Jaraula.

Revilla and Estrada are detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center, while Enrile is under hospital detention. Lanete and Valdez are detained at Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig.