SENATOR Jinggoy Estrada may need to undergo surgery after twisting his left knee while standing up from a seated position before he was brought to the Cardinal Santos Medical Center (CSMC) to undergo an X-ray for his right knee.
Estrada was seen limping while being assisted by jail personnel in getting out of the ambulance that brought him to CSMC for his scheduled medical procedure.
The senator’s orthopedic surgeon Fernando Syquia said Estrada was supposed to undergo a check for the arthritis of his right knee.
However, the 63-year-old lawmaker suffered a ‘pretty bad’ meniscal tear in his left knee prior to being brought to the hospital
When asked if there was a need for Estrada to stay longer in the hospital, Syquia said it would depend on his pain tolerance.
‘If the pain cannot be controlled adequately with the medications that we gave…he might have to be admitted for the pain medications,’ Syquia said.
‘I explained to the senator that these types of tears usually end up with surgery, because if you have a complete tear at the root of the meniscus, it’s as if the meniscus is not functioning at all,’ he added.
However, Estrada was seen being escorted out of the hospital at 4:25 p.m. for his return to the Quezon City Jail.
The senator is being detained on plunder and graft charges filed by the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly receiving kickbacks from the government’s flood control projects amounting to over P573 million for the period 2024-2025.
Last Tuesday, the Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division granted his motion for leave seeking permission to undergo knee X-ray at CSMC after experiencing persistent pain in both knees, which makes it difficult for him to walk.
The Sandiganbayan allowed the senators to leave his detention cell at around 11 a.m. for his scheduled knee x-ray at 1 p.m.
The anti-graft court directed the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology to return to him not later than 3 p.m. of the same date.
In his motion for leave, Estrada noted that prior to his detention on June 1, 2026, he had been suffering from joint effusion in his knee joints and intermittent pain in both knees.
He was previously diagnosed with osteoarthritis, a degenerative condition that affects his mobility.