Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Sen. Jinggoy Estrada will not be out of detention anytime soon.
The Sandiganbayan denied on Thursday (January 7) Estrada’s petition for bail, according to the lawmaker’s legal counsel.
Lawyer Alexis Abastillas, confirmed the news although she added they were yet to go over the 215-page decision of the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division before they could give a comment on the matter.
Estrada — along with Sens. Bong Revilla and Juan Ponce Enrile are facing graft and plunder charges for allegedly channeling their pork barrel to bogus organizations.
Enrile is out on bail.
Related: Supreme Court grants Enrile’s petition to post bail; Jinggoy to wait longer
Estrada ‘can’t shrug off liability’
According to the voluminous Sandiganbayan resolution, evidence showed that Estrada pocketed at least P50 million from his pork funds.
The court put weight on the testimony of whistleblowers, who were mostly former employees of alleged pork scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.
Evidence also included daily disbursement reports of Benhur Luy, who used to work as financial officer for Napoles. These daily records, also known as the ‘Benhur Files’ contained in an external hard drive supposedly detail the kickbacks received by lawmakers, including Estrada, who transacted with Napoles.
Despite Estrada’s rebuttal that none of the whistleblowers, not even Luy, had personal knowledge of his supposed receipt of kickbacks, the court considered the testimony of Ruby Tuason, who testified she personally delivered Estrada’s kickbacks, sometimes in his office at the Senate.
Estrada also claimed his involvement is limited to the endorsement of non-government organizations.
However, the court found Estrada’s selective endorsement of two particular NGOs rather odd. These are the Social Development for Farmers Foundation Inc and the Masaganang Ani Para sa Magsasaka Foundation Inc.
It said an inquiry report by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) showed these NGOs were controlled by Napoles, as she had to confirm withdrawals from the NGOs’ bank accounts.
The court said it was Estrada’s responsibility to oversee the implementation of his pork projects, and so he cannot simply “turn the other way and shrug off liability”.
Bail denial not a prejudgment
The Fifth Division also denied Napoles’s bail petition.
However, the court said bail denials should not be taken as prejudgment on the merits of the case.
CNN Philippines’ AC Nicholls contributed to this report.
