Sen. Jinggoy Estrada FILE PHOTO
Detained Sen. Jinggoy Estrada has petitioned the Sandiganbayan to allow him to perform his “paternal duty and obligation” to attend the proclamation rally of his daughter, Janella, who is running for vice mayor of San Juan City.
In an urgent motion, Estrada told the antigraft court’s Fifth Division that his daughter had asked him to be by her side at the proclamation rally to be held at the historic Pinaglabanan Shrine from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on April 2.
Paternal duties
“It is no question that for a father, the path of his daughter’s civil service road is one that needs to be seen, watched, guided and assisted by the father,” read a portion of Estrada’s March 30 petition.
Estrada, who has been detained at Camp Crame since June 2014 on charges that he appropriated P183 million of his pork barrel funds, was previously allowed by the court to witness his son’s graduation.
He, however, failed to get the court’s permission to attend the 85th birthday celebration of his mother, former Sen. Loi Ejercito, last year.
Request rejected
Meanwhile, the court has turned down for lack of merit Estrada’s request to be allowed to hold the hearings of the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources development, which he chairs, in a place to be decided by the court.
The motion was rejected by the court which said it had already denied a similar petition before.
It also dismissed a separate motion seeking the court’s permission to let Estrada participate in the canvassing of votes for the May 9 national elections at the Senate.
“The justifications adduced by [Estrada] are not meritorious to be considered as cogent reason for this court to depart from its previous rulings,” the court ruled.
“On the contrary, the court has additional basis not to favorably act on his motion, and that is the denial of his petition for bail,” it added.