Sandiganbayan grants Jinggoy’s plea to post bail

Former Senator Jinggoy Estrada. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Sandiganbayan granted on Friday the petition to post bail of former Senator Jinggoy Estrada despite facing a non-bailable offense of plunder.

In a 15-page ruling, the anti-graft court allowed the former senator to post P1-million bail for plunder and P330,000 for 11 counts of violation of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Voting in favor of Estrada are Associate Justices Maria Theresa V. Mendoza-Arcega, Reynaldo Cruz, and Lorifel Pahimna while Associate Justices Rafael Lagos and Zaldy Trespeses dissented.

According to the court, “the probability of flight is not that much” of Estrada, being a former senator and a prominent personality.

“He surrendered himself voluntarily to the authorities and remained in detention for almost three years also negate the intention or intention to evade the legal process,” the anti-graft court said.

“We have not received the order. But if ever there is an order granting bail, we will post bail tomorrow,” Estrada’s spokesperson, Atty. Alexis Abastillas, said in a text message.

Estrada is currently detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center for allegedly receiving over P180-million in kickbacks from his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

He was charged with plunder and graft in 2014. The former senator was ordered arrested by the anti-graft court that same year.

The anti-graft court denied Estrada’s first petition to post bail but he filed another petition in 2016 after President Rodrigo Duterte said that Estrada and former Senator Bong Revilla should be granted bail if evidence against them is weak. /kga