Sandiganbayan rejects Senator Estrada's request to join impeachment proceedings

The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division has denied Senator Jinggoy Estrada's request to attend the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte while he remains under detention for a pending plunder case.

Estrada is currently facing a non-bailable plunder charge before the anti-graft court's Fifth Division over an alleged "intricate mechanism involving illegal budgetary insertions and project allocations" in the Department of Public Works and Highways' infrastructure budget for fiscal year 2025 amounting to P573 million, based on allegations by state prosecutors. The senator has consistently denied the charges.

In a resolution dated July 9, the Fifth Division rejected Estrada's "Motion to Allow Accused Senator Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada to Attend the Senate Impeachment Trial of Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio," which he filed on June 29.

In seeking permission to attend the proceedings, Estrada argued that the participation of all senator-judges is significant because the conviction of an impeachable official such as the vice president requires the vote of two-thirds of the Senate, or 16 out of 24 senators, including him. He maintained that his role in the impeachment court constituted a "compelling" basis for granting him temporary leave from detention.

The anti-graft court, however, disagreed, pointing out that the impeachment court is scheduled to convene three times a week to complete the projected 92 trial days over a span of 31 weeks.

"Such a prolonged and recurring arrangement cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be considered an emergency or compelling temporary leave from detention," the court said.

The ruling came as the Senate Impeachment Court has yet to resolve a motion filed by Senator-Judge Alan Peter Cayetano seeking to ask the Sandiganbayan to allow Estrada and Senator Rodante Marcoleta to attend the proceedings despite their detention.

Senator Panfilo Lacson said Friday that the anti-graft court's denial of Estrada's motion could make it unnecessary for the impeachment court to act on Cayetano's request.

"That would spare the Impeachment Court from acting on the pending motion of Senator-Judge Alan Cayetano for us to 'ask the Sandiganbayan to allow Senators Estrada (and Marcoleta) to participate in the impeachment trial', which may impliedly suggest that we are interfering with an ongoing judicial process," Lacson said.

He added that the senator-judges still need to deliberate on the matter.

"I believe we still have to discuss the matter among ourselves as it is just my humble opinion," he said.

Cayetano earlier urged the impeachment court to "communicate" with the Sandiganbayan to allow Estrada and Marcoleta—both of whom are facing plunder and multiple graft charges—to participate in the impeachment trial. The motion came after Presiding Officer Francis Escudero reiterated that a conviction in the impeachment case requires the votes of 16 senator-judges.

Estrada, who is detained at the New Quezon City Jail in Payatas, is widely viewed as part of the Senate's pro-Duterte bloc. Marcoleta, who was arrested last Monday, remains confined at the Philippine National Police General Hospital pending his transfer to a regular detention facility.

Both senators would have participated as senator-judges tasked with deciding whether Duterte should be convicted or acquitted.

A conviction would result in Duterte's removal from office and permanently disqualify her from holding any public position. She has already announced her intention to run for president.