Quezon City cell being readied for Jinggoy

MANILA, Philippines — While a Sandiganbayan warrant of arrest for the non-bailable case of plunder has yet to be issued against Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, a detention cell at the New Quezon City Jail Male Dormitory in Payatas is already waiting for him.

Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla confirmed that the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, which has supervision over the jail, has a detention cell ready for Estrada.

“Yes, we are prepared,” Remulla said in a message on Viber.

Estrada is facing a plunder case involving over P573 million worth of alleged kickbacks from various flood control projects.

The Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division, which has jurisdiction of the case, has yet to issue an arrest warrant.

Estrada on Friday posted bail of P90,000 for a graft case he and former Department of Public Works and Highways secretary Manuel Bonoan are facing at the anti-graft court’s Second Division.

Remulla has designated the New Quezon City Jail as the detention facility for all accused suspects in the flood control scandal.

It currently has a jail population of about 3,600 inmates, including former senator Ramon Revilla Jr., who was arrested last January for graft and malversation over a P92.8-million flood control project in Pandi, Bulacan.

Remulla said the decision on where Estrada will be jailed is up to the Sandiganbayan.

If the anti-graft court issues a commitment order for Estrada to the Payatas facility, Remulla said it has enough detention cells to accommodate the senator.

On whether Estrada will share a cell with Revilla, Remulla said he will leave the decision to the jail warden.

Cleanup needed

Ahead of the Blue Ribbon committee’s scheduled resumption of its flood control probe tomorrow, former Senate president Franklin Drilon called on the chamber’s leadership to strip senators facing criminal allegations of their vice chairmanships of the chamber’s foremost anti-graft committee.

Warning that the current membership of the committee could destroy public trust in the Senate, Drilon called for an internal clean-up amid the recent ombudsman recommendations to file charges against incumbent senators. — Neil Jayson Servallos