Sandigan affirms Jinggoy acquittal

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has affirmed the acquittal of Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada of indirect and direct bribery.

In an eight-page decision dated Nov. 27, the anti-graft court’s special Fifth Division denied the prosecutors’ appeal to reverse Estrada’s acquittal for indirect and direct bribery due to lack of merit.

Apart from this, the court also denied Estrada’s preemptory challenge and motion to expunge the prosecution’s motion for reconsideration. In Estrada’s pleadings, he asked the court to strike the latest motion by prosecutors out of the records of the case.

“Accordingly, the resolution dated Aug. 22, 2024 hereby stands,” the anti-graft court ruled.

The Sandiganbayan reversed its earlier decision to convict Estrada of direct and indirect bribery, which would have placed him in a position where he may be eventually booted out of office, pay fines and be imprisoned for 16 years.

In dismissing the prosecutors’ appeal, the court said “the instant motion seeks to revisit the factual findings of Estrada’s acquittal that would place the latter in double jeopardy.”

Double jeopardy is a procedural defense under the Constitution that prohibits anyone from being prosecuted twice for substantially the same crime.

Last January, Estrada and the so-called pork barrel queen Janet Napoles were cleared of plunder over the misuse of the senator’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel.

In the same decision, Estrada was found guilty of direct and indirect bribery as the court found all elements of the crime were established as he was a public officer when he received bribes to endorse Napoles’ non-government organizations to implement his PDAF projects and his act of endorsing the NGOs itself.

For indirect bribery, the court found that Estrada received a percentage of a project’s cost through Napoles and that he received a percentage of the cost enough for liability for direct or indirect bribery.

These were found through the prosecution’s establishing that Estrada received P1 million in bribe money, making him liable for direct bribery and that he received a total of P5.7 million from Napoles through Ruby Tuason, who has since turned into a whistleblower, making the senator liable for indirect bribery.

This was reversed in August, when the court granted Estrada’s appeal and said prosecutors failed to explain the discrepancy in amounts in the alleged bribes and establish the connection of the cash transfers to Estrada. — Cecille Suerte Felipe