JINGGOY SUSPENDED AGAIN FOR 90-DAYS OVER PLUNDER CASE

SENATOR Jinggoy Estrada on Monday was ordered suspended anew by the Sandiganbayan for 90-days over his plunder case.

Special prosecutors said the case against Estrada stemmed from alleged “intricate mechanism involving illegal budgetary insertions and project allocations” within the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) infrastructure portfolio for fiscal year 2025 worth P573 million.

Republic Act No 7080 or the Anti-Plunder Act provides for the preventive suspension of any official facing plunder , a non-bailable offense. 

The five-page resolution on Estrada’s second suspension was penned by Sandiganbayan Fifth Division chair Associate Justice Zaldy Trespeses and promulgated on Oct. 12.

This is his second suspension after another division of the anti-graft court had earlier suspended him last June for graft.

On June 22, the Sandiganbayan’s Second Division issued a 90-day suspension order against Estrada.

Estrada is currently detained at the New Quezon City Jail Male Dormitory after the Fifth Division on June 1 ordered his arrest in connection with graft and plunder charges.