Sandiganbayan rejects justices' plea to inhibit from Jinggoy case

MANILA, Philippines — The three Sandiganbayan justices comprising the Fifth Division were not allowed to inhibit from the plunder and graft cases against Sen. Jinggoy Estrada.

Voting unanimously en banc, 11 magistrates of the anti-graft court rejected the request of Associate Justices Roland Jurado, Alexander Gesmundo and Maria Theresa Dolorez Gomez-Estoesta to recuse from the criminal cases.

Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang said in a radio report that the Fifth Division will soon resume handling the high-profile cases.

In a letter to Tang on Monday, Jurado, the Fifth Division chair and his colleagues cited "personal reasons" in inhibiting from the cases.

READ: Sandiganbayan division inhibits from Jinggoy's 'pork' case 

Estrada is among the three senators accused in pocketing public funds through the "pork barrel" scam—a multi-billion peso embezzlement of lawmakers' appropriations.