Court denies Jinggoy plea to junk charges

Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada. AP FILE PHOTO

Former Sen. Jinggoy Estrada will still face trial for 11 counts of graft in connection with the alleged misuse of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel, after the Sandiganbayan affirmed its denial of his bid seeking the dismissal of the cases.

In a 10-page resolution, the antigraft court’s Fifth Division denied Estrada’s appeal of its July ruling that first rejected his motion to dismiss the graft charges.

The court maintained the graft cases were distinct from the plunder charge he is also facing for coursing his PDAF to fraudulent nongovernment organizations created by P10-billion pork scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

Estrada’s petition to dismiss the 11 cases was anchored on the claim that the graft allegations were “mere ingredients” of the plunder indictment and should be “absorbed” instead in that one criminal case.

He also cited several Supreme Court rulings that purportedly showed that actions he is accused of committing as part of an alleged plunder charge could not be deemed to be separate criminal cases.

But the court said the Estrada camp had relied on misinterpretations of the Supreme Court rulings which do not actually apply to his case.

Some of these do not apply to his case because they concerned instances of multiple allegations contained in only one charge sheet. Meanwhile, a more complete reading of other rulings would actually show that the cases did not need to be “absorbed.”

“It was likewise a disservice to the efficient administration of justice that so much time had to be spent to verify the assertions,” the court said.

Justice Rafael R. Lagos penned the resolution, with the concurrence of Justices Roland B. Jurado and Maria Theresa V. Mendoza-Arcega.

Estrada’s 11 counts of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act concerned his alleged endorsement of his pork barrel to the bogus NGOs for various projects. Under the plunder charge, he is accused of receiving P183.8 million in kickbacks from Napoles or her representatives.