Sen. Jinggoy Estrada. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON
SAYING he could not say no to his daughter, detained Sen. Jinggoy Estrada appealed to the Sandiganbayan to allow him to attend his daughter’s final campaign rally and to cast his vote in San Juan City.
Estrada, who has been detained for nearly two years for his pork barrel scam plunder trial, requested a four-hour furlough on the evening of May 7 to attend the miting de advance of his daughter Janella Ejercito at the Pinaglabanan Shrine.
His daughter is running for vice mayor in San Juan City where he once served as mayor.
Estrada “hope(s) that the court and the prosecution will understand the need for a father to do all the pleas and court motions to be part of his daughter’s desire to be a public servant,” his lawyers said in a petition filed on Monday before the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division.
Last week, he asked the court to allow him to cast his vote in his precinct at the Xavier School in San Juan City on May 9 between 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
His fellow detainee and co-accused, Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. has also petitioned the Sandiganbayan First Division to allow him to cast his vote in Bacoor, Cavite.