Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 16) — The Sandiganbayan has affirmed its earlier decision allowing former Senator Jinggoy Estrada to post bail for plunder and graft charges he is facing over an alleged pork barrel scam.
In a ruling issued on November 10, the Sandiganbayan Special Fifth Division denied the Office of the Ombudsman’s motion for reconsideration on Estrada’s bail for lack of merit.
The court said the Ombudsman did not present new arguments that would justify a reversal of the original ruling.
“Finding no new matters that could merit the reconsideration of its previous resolution, the Court finds no cogent reason to depart from it”, the court said.
It reiterated that it is duty bound to follow a Supreme Court ruling requiring prosecutors to identify a “main plunderer” in cases involving this offense.
Estrada walked out of detention earlier this month after the court allowed him to post a P1million bail bond for his pork barrel plunder case.
The court anchored its ruling on a Supreme Court decision acquitting former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on the grounds that the Ombudsman failed to identify her as the main plunderer in the charge sheet.
“The Arroyo case is a judicial decision by the highest Court interpreting the plunder law and this Court is duty bound to follow and apply the Supreme Court’s ruling in the said case,” the resolution read.
It also stressed that the prosecution has failed to present enough evidence to establish Estrada as one of the masterminds of the fraud.
The former senator is accused of pocketing 183 million pesos in public funds by diverting his pork barrel to bogus NGOs owned by businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles.
