The Sandiganbayan has denied the appeal of former Senator Jinggoy Estrada to dismiss the plunder case filed against him in connection with the alleged misuse of the P183 million of his Priority Development Assistance Fund.
In a 12-page decision, the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division junked Estrada’s motion for reconsideration on the anti-graft court’s denial of his demurrer to evidence.
“It is clear that the main plunderer so to speak is no other than Estrada, having control over his PDAF and without his participation, the whole scheme would not have begun. Estrada’s act of repeatedly making and sending of endorsement letters to the implementing agencies designating the bogus nongovernment organizations as his partner-implementers in relation to his PDAF-funded projects, started the whole PDAF scheme,” the court said.
Estrada is facing charges at the anti-graft court for the alleged misuse of the P183 million of his Priority Development Assistance Fund.
The court earlier denied Estrada’s motion for leave of court to file a demurrer to evidence; that if granted will result in his acquittal without him having to file counter-evidence to that filed by the Ombudsman in filing the case.
The court also said “Of all the accused in this case, the participation of Estrada is the most vital, as he served as the spark plug which ignited the complex PDAF scheme. His role is constant and nobody else can play it for him being the custodian of his PDAF, which does not apply to all other accused.”
“Upon review of the records of the case, this Court is convinced that the prosecution has established each and every element of the offense charged, through the detailed and spontaneous testimonies of the witnesses, which was corroborated by the testimony of other witnesses and concretized by the documentary evidence submitted. All these, uncontroverted by defense evidence, are sufficient to convict herein accused,” the Sandiganbayan said.
“For failure of both accused to present any exceptional circumstance that would necessitate the court to reverse its earlier ruling, the motions for reconsideration by both accused must necessarily fall. In view thereof, the Motions for Reconsideration are denied for lack of merit,” Sandiganbayan added.
The Sandiganbayan has ruled that the Ombudsman’s evidence is strong enough to warrant the holding of the full trial of the case involving allegedly misuse of his PDAF funds.
In his motion, Estrada said the Ombudsman failed to prove that he allegedly misappropriated his P183-million Priority Development Assistance Fund, or pork barrel, to the fake non-government organizations of pork barrel mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.