The Sandiganbayan has rejected for lack of merit the plea of Senator Jinggoy Estrada to dismiss the graft charges filed against him over his alleged misuse of P200 million in pork barrel funds in 2014.
The resolution means that his graft trial will push through even though the court had already acquitted him and convicted businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles for plunder over the same case, an argument he raised before the court.
In a 22-page resolution dated Oct. 1, the antigraft court’s Special Fifth Division said there was ‘no cogent reason’ to reverse its Mar. 26 resolution that denied Estrada’s demurrer to evidence because the senator was arguing for cases that differed substantially.
Estrada, in his motion for reconsideration cited by the Sandiganbayan, had argued that there should not be any prosecution for graft since he was already prosecuted for plunder based on the ‘same set of facts and the same set of transactions.’
His motion also took note of the ‘similarity’ between the two sets of indictments wherein the prosecution in both cases ‘presented essentially the same set of exhibits and the same set of witness testimonies to prove the same theory, albeit to prosecute separate sets of crimes.’
But the court rejected his argument, saying there was nothing in the Rules of Court or the laws that required the court to dismiss a separate graft case ‘on account of the charge being a predicate act in a prior case for plunder.’
Double jeopardy
‘The only reason to sustain such an argument would be if the same places the accused in double jeopardy, which is not the case herein, as shall be discussed by the court later,’ read the resolution signed by Associate Justice Zaldy Trespeses, the division chair; and Associate Justices Maryann Corpus-Mañalac and Maria Theresa Mendoza-Arcega.
The case stemmed from the claim of socialite Ruby Tuason, former social secretary to Estrada’s father, former President Joseph Estrada, that she personally delivered cash to the senator from Napoles, who has had numerous convictions for masterminding the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.
Senator Estrada is accused of receiving millions of pesos in kickbacks from Napoles, who connived with some lawmakers and government officials to divert billions of pesos of PDAF funds to nonexistent or flawed livelihood projects supposedly carried out by her nongovernment organizations.
The court also rejected Estrada’s argument that the prosecution failed to prove the element of scienter, or the intent or knowledge to commit wrongdoing, because he did not know of Napoles’s criminal scheme.
The Sandiganbayan noted that Tuason had testified that she informed him of Napoles’ scheme as early as 2004 and that she personally ‘delivered amounts to him on various occasions’ at the Senate and his residence.