Senator Jinggoy Estrada. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada has asked the Sandiganbayan’s permission to vote outside his detention cell in a precinct in San Juan so he can cast his ballot for the vice mayoral candidacy of his daughter Janella.
In his urgent motion filed before the anti-graft court Fifth Division, Sen. Estrada asked the court he be allowed to vote from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on May 9 in his voting precinct at Xavier School in San Juan under the guard of the Philippine National Police.
Estrada said he would shoulder the expenses from the police security.
Estrada said that he has a right to suffrage allowed by the Supreme Court for detainees.
He said he wanted to vote outside his detention cell because detainee voting at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center is only for national electoral positions.
“On the matter of his right to vote, it is very citizen’s duty and constitutional right to vote. Not only it is a right and duty but failure to exercise said right can lead to disenfranchisement of his right of suffrage,” Estrada said.
Estrada in the same motion also asked the court’s approval for him to undergo MRI and X-ray at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center or the University of Santo Tomas Hospital as soon as possible to have his frozen shoulders checked.
In a separate motion, Estrada also asked for leave from the court to attend Janella’s miting de avance on May 7 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m at the Pinaglabanan Shrine.
“He makes appeal to the court with the hope that the court and the prosecution will understand the need for a father to do all … (and) be part of his daughter’s desire to be a public servant of the City of San Juan,” Estrada said in his motion.
Guia Gomez, the mother of Jinggoy’s half-brother Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito, is gunning for her third and last term as San Juan mayor against her former ally, Vice Mayor Francis Zamora.
Former councilor Jana Ejercito, Jinggoy’s cousin, is running for the San Juan congressional district against reelectionist San Juan representative and minority floor leader Ronaldo Zamora (Francis’ father).
READ: Guia Gomez, Janella Estrada, Jana Ejercito file COCs for San Juan posts
Jinggoy is detained for plunder and graft for allegedly receiving P183 million kickbacks from accused pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles. He is detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center with co-accused Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.
Both of them have been denied bail by the Sandigabayan. RAM/rga
READ: Sandigan denies Jinggoy bail plea