Court denies Jinggoy’s bid to dismiss graft charges
The trial of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada for his remaining graft case in the Sandiganbayan over the alleged diversion of more than P200 million in pork barrel funds will proceed after the court junked his motion on the ground of insufficient evidence.
In a March 26 resolution, the antigraft court’s Special Fifth Division rejected Estrada’s demurrer to evidence, noting that the prosecutors “clearly proved,” through testimonies of the whistleblowers, witnesses and documentary evidence, that Estrada was in cahoots with his coaccused to get kickbacks out of his priority development assistance Zund (PDAF).
The funds diverted to fictitious livelihood projects were endorsed to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) supposedly owned by convicted businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.
An accused can file a demurrer to evidence to seek a dismissal of the charges after the prosecution presents all of its evidence. If a court grants this motion, the accused will be acquitted, otherwise, he or she will have to remain on trial.
The Estrada case was one of the several filed against lawmakers in connection with the pork barrel scam masterminded by Napoles and exposed by a series of Inquirer reports in 2013.
Estrada is still facing 11 counts of graft after being acquitted of plunder last year. He was convicted of one count each of direct and indirect bribery for supposedly pocketing P6.7 million in payoffs in connection with the misappropriation of his PDAF, but the Sandiganbayan reversed the decision in August.
“In total, the court is convinced that the plaintiff clearly proved that Estrada’s PDAF was systematically pocketed, was divided among the accused, and nothing went to the supposed beneficiaries,” a part of the 99-page ruling read.
Strong evidence
The Sandiganbayan pointed to the testimonies that “established the whole PDAF scheme,” wherein witnesses shared how Estrada and Napoles allegedly negotiated how the pork barrel pie would be divvied up between them, ranging from 40 percent to 50 percent of the total project cost.
The entire scheme supposedly went on with the help of their aides and Department of Budget and Management (DBM) personnel.
The court stressed that these were corroborated by reports and findings on the pork barrel scam by the Commission on Audit (COA), the Office of the Ombudsman, the Anti-Money Laundering Council and the daily disbursement reports found in the external hard drive of Benhur Luy, Napoles’ cousin and finance officer of her company JLN Corp.
A strong evidence cited by the court was the COA observation that Estrada supposedly “exceeded his authority” when he handpicked Masaganang Ani Para sa Magsasaka Foundation Inc. and Social Development Program for Farmers Foundation Inc. to execute the PDAF-funded programs. This was despite not being recognized by the old national budget law as the implementing agencies.
DBM personnel acquitted
The COA also found Estrada to have endorsed the defunct National Agribusiness Corp. despite not being listed as another implementing arm, the antigraft court said.
These, along with the testimonies, “sufficiently proved that the acts of accused public officers of repeatedly facilitating the illegal transfers of public funds to Napoles’ NGOs … represent quantifiable, pecuniary losses to the government,” in violation of Section 3(e) of the the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, it said.
The court also denied the demurrer to evidence of one of Estrada’s coaccused, former Director General Dennis Cunanan of another abolished agency, Technology Resource Center.
The Sandiganbayan, however, granted the joint demurrer to evidence filed by former Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos and employees Rosario Nuñez, Lalaine Paule and Marilou Bare, noting that the evidence was not enough to establish that they were the “contacts in DBM” who also received commission to join in the supposed PDAF scheme.
This means the four former DBM personnel are acquitted of the graft charges and the hold-departure orders against them have been lifted.
The Sandiganbayan scheduled the presentation of evidence from the camp of Estrada and his other coaccused on April 22.
