MANILA — The Supreme Court has ruled that Sen. Jinggoy Estrada must still face his graft cases linked to the pork barrel scam despite being acquitted of plunder earlier this year, affirming that graft and plunder are distinct offenses that can be prosecuted separately.
In its October 28 en banc ruling, the high tribunal dismissed Estrada’s petitions questioning the graft and plunder charges stemming from the alleged misuse of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), stating that the plunder-related plea had already been rendered “moot and academic.”
“The Court took judicial notice of the Sandiganbayan Decision, dated January 19, 2024, acquitting Senator Estrada of the plunder charges, which rendered the said petitions moot and academic,” the decision read.
However, the Supreme Court rejected Estrada’s claim that the graft charges were “deemed absorbed” by the plunder case. It clarified that there is no legal basis for the argument and emphasized that the two crimes have different elements and implications under Philippine law.
The Office of the Ombudsman had earlier ordered the filing of multiple cases before the Sandiganbayan against Estrada, businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles, and several others over allegations that the senator received at least P183.793 million in kickbacks from PDAF-funded projects. Estrada also faces several counts of graft for allegedly channeling about P255.114 million from his PDAF to questionable non-government organizations through fraudulent transactions.
The high court stressed that violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act 3019) cannot be absorbed by the Anti-Plunder Act (Republic Act 7080), since the former penalizes acts that grant “any private party any unwarranted benefit, advantage or preference.”
“The decision effectively affirms that violations of Republic Act No. 3019 may be prosecuted separately from plunder,” the Court stated, underscoring that the absorption principle applies only in rare instances when the same public official is both the giver and recipient of the unwarranted benefit.
Estrada’s plunder and graft charges are among the most prominent cases arising from the multibillion-peso PDAF scandal that implicated several lawmakers and public officials./PN
