NOW, JINGGOY SAYS WHISTLE-BLOWERS WERE ‘MAIN PLUNDERERS’ IN PDAF SCAM
Talk about reversal of fortune.
Pork barrel scam whistleblowers Benhur K. Luy and Marina C. Sula might yet find themselves being charged as “main plunderers” in the case involving the diversion of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), if former senator Jinggoy Estrada were to be believed.
However, being state witnesses, the two are immune from prosecution.
In his response to the Ombudsman’s appeal that questioned the Sandiganbayan’s Sept. 15 resolution allowing him to post bail, the former senator hailed the Fifth Division’s ruling.
The ruling said the prosecution had failed to show that Estrada was the “main plunderer” of the P183.79-million pork barrel fund given him, thus weakening the case and entitling him to bail.
The defense said the prosecution evidence “tends to show that Sen. Estrada was not a participant to such supposed conspiracy at its inception and also had no participation until the end.”
“Sen. Estrada is not the central figure insofar as the supposed scheme involving the PDAF allocation is concerned,” the 19-page opposition read.
Instead, Estrada named as main plunderers “none other than Benhur K. Luy and Marina C. Sula,” two of businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles’ employees who later became whistleblowers.
At the very center
Estrada described Luy and Sula as the “persons at the very center of all the activities of the supposed conspiracy” to pocket his PDAF proceeds.
The former senator said Luy and Sula organized the nongovernment organizations (NGOs), coordinated with the Department of Budget and Management, dealt with the implementing government agencies, encashed the checks, prepared the liquidation documents, met with the alleged middlemen and distributed the kickbacks.
Estrada also disagreed with the Ombudsman’s contention that the Supreme Court’s controversial July 2016 decision acquitting former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should not have been applied to his case.
In the Arroyo ruling, the SC laid down the precedent that imposed an additional requirement for prosecutors to pinpoint a “main plunderer” in a scheme to pocket public funds.
In a Sept. 18 press briefing, Special Prosecutor Edilberto Sandoval said the Arroyo ruling and its subsequent application in Estrada’s case would have “adverse effects” on the prosecution of plunder cases.
In applying the Arroyo doctrine, the defense maintained that the pork barrel scam was carried out “even without the participation of Sen. Estrada,” so he could not have been the “main plunderer.”
The defense noted the testimony of prosecution witness Ruby Tuason who claimed that Estrada had initially refused to meet Napoles in 2004, and only met her in 2008.
Not the ultimate step
Estrada said the prosecution had only presented endorsement letters from 2008 for the diversion of his PDAF to the dubious NGOs linked to Napoles. He said this meant that he could not have taken part in a conspiracy that allegedly took place from 2004 to 2012.
Even his endorsement of the NGOs was “not the ultimate step” to consummate the scheme, Estrada said. His selection of the Napoles-linked NGOs did not show he “had foreknowledge of any irregularity,” he added.
Estrada further noted that his endorsement letters contained instructions to comply with accounting and auditing rules and ensure the proper implementation of what now turned out to be ghost projects.
“These cannot be taken to mean as a directive toward the commission of any wrong or irregularity,” he argued.
Estrada said the prosecution had no proof that he indeed received the kickbacks from Luy.
Prior to the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division’s 3-2 ruling in Estrada’s favor, the actorpolitician spent three years detained at the Philippine National Police custodial center since June 2014, when the pork barrel charges were filed against him and former Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Bong Revilla.
The Fifth Division in January 2016 initially found the prosecution evidence strong enough to keep denying Estrada the right to bail. But the Supreme Court’s July 2016 ruling in Arroyo’s case encouraged Estrada to try seeking bail again. It was finally granted in September this year.