Jinggoy hoping for end of bail hearing

MANILA, Philippines - Detained Sen. Jinggoy Estrada is hopeful that hearings for his bail petition will soon end and the Sandiganbayan will come out with a decision.

They expect the prosecution to present two more witnesses – one from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the second a bank manager, according to Estrada’s spokesman Alexis Abastillas-Suarez.

“We are glad that hearings for the bail petition will soon be finished,” she said.

“At the same time, we are also a little bit worried of what will be the result after all these hearings in court. The testimony of the NBI witness may take two days before it can be terminated.

“We have to consider that instead of allotting one whole day hearing for our bail petition, we are just given now 35 to 45 minutes.”

However, they are hopeful that the prosecution will be able to terminate their presentation next week, she added.

The defense is set to present as witnesses clerks of court from the regional trial courts in Metro Manila, as well as the Senate sergeant-at-arms, Suarez said.

“If they (prosecution) will agree with our stipulation, then it will expedite testimony of our witnesses,” she said.

They are confident that the court’s decision will be in Estrada’a favor, Suarez said.

“Given all the witnesses and evidence presented there is no evidence in the PDAF case directly pointing to Sen. Estrada,” she said.

Estrada is detained at Camp Crame. 

However, the anti-graft court has allowed him to be taken to the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan for a complete medical check-up upon his motion.

The senator was ordered to leave the hospital not later than 6 p.m. today to return to his place of detention.