Jinggoy fails to secure TRO vs Luy’s ledger in PDAF case

Buena Bernal

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Jinggoy fails to secure TRO vs Luy’s ledger in PDAF case
SC spokesperson Theodore Te says the Court also ordered the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan to comment on Estrada's petition within 10 days from notice

MANILA, Philippines – State witness Benhur Luy’s digital files showing the amount of kickbacks supposedly received by Senator Jinggoy Estrada from alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Napoles remains to be part of the evidence in Estrada’s cases.

This, after the Supreme Court (SC) denied Estrada’s request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan’s ruling admitting Luy’s ledger as evidence despite his plea for its exclusion.

SC spokesperson Theodore Te said the Court also ordered the Sandiganbayan to comment on the senator’s petition within 10 days from notice.  

Estrada had accused Luy of committing a criminal act for taking data stored in the Napoles-owned JLN Corporation’s desktop computer and submitting it to authorities as proof of the scam siphoning off the now-abolished Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of lawmakers.

Hacker

Estrada argued before the Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division that Luy is guilty of “hacking” and of illegally accessing the “computer-generated” files, which his lawyers said, are crimes punishable under the E-Commerce Act of 2000 and the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

His attempt to block the evidence implicating him was called “absurd” by the prosecution, with the court eventually ruling against his favor.

He elevated before the SC the ruling of the 5th division Sandiganbayan justices, tagging as “feeble,” “ironic,” and “laid on the wrong premise” his attempt to suppress the said files for being allegedly illegally obtained.

In 2012, Luy copied the subject files to his 500-gigabyte external hard drive from a computer in the JLN office, where he worked as financial officer. He submitted the hard drive to the National Bureau of Investigation upon his rescue from alleged illegal detention under Napoles.

Napoles allegedly gave commissions to lawmakers like Estrada in exchange for their endorsement of her foundations as recipients of their PDAF. She used ghost projects to conceal the illegal activity, a state probe found.

Luy’s disclosure of his boss’ elaborate ploy led to the revelation of the biggest corruption scandal in the country in recent years, consequently increasing public clamor for greater transparency in the use of public funds.

Charged with plunder and graft for pocketing P183 million and misusing a total of P278 million from his PDAF, respectively, Estrada is accused of illegally enriching himself through Napoles’ scheme. 

The former San Juan mayor had earlier faced a defeat before the SC, after the Court junked his separate plea to stop the cases against him for an allegedly faulty finding of probable cause by the Ombudsman.

Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon Revilla Jr, and a number of former congressmen are likewise charged before the court over the scam. – Rappler.com 

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