SC junks Jinggoy Estrada's bid to stop PDAF scam trial

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday upheld the indictment of former senator Jinggoy Estrada in the multibillion-peso Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.

While the SC allowed him to post bail in the plunder and graft cases, it gave the go-signal for his trial before the Sandiganbayan to proceed.

Justices of the High Court voted 6-4, with four abstentions, in session yesterday to dismiss for lack of merit Estrada’s petition questioning the Office of the Ombudsman’s finding of probable cause in the cases against the former lawmaker.

It was not the first time the SC rejected Estrada’s bid for relief on the plunder and graft cases against him.

In January last year, the SC junked his petition questioning the additional graft cases filed against him by the ombudsman before the anti-graft court.

In March 2015, the SC also dismissed with finality his 2014 petitions seeking to stop his trial for plunder in the Sandiganbayan.

But in September last year, he was granted bail by the anti-graft court in the cases.

Apart from plunder, Estrada is also facing 11 counts of graft for allegedly pocketing some P183 million in kickbacks from his pork barrel allocations, which was coursed through bogus non-government organizations established by alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

Estrada and former senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. were the top government officials charged in connection with the pork barrel scam.

Enrile was granted bail by the SC in 2015 while Revilla has yet to secure a bail grant from the High Court.