The camp of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada has this request to the Sandiganbayan
Senator Jinggoy Estrada requested the Sandiganbayan to allow him to attend hearings without wearing the person deprived of liberty (PDL) uniform.
Estrada was seen wearing the yellow uniform following his voluntary surrender due to the plunder case against him, which is linked to the alleged flood control project kickbacks.
The Senator is currently detained at the Quezon City Jail. He received support from his allies in the Senate, and his family rallied behind him.
Based on the report from Abante News, the camp of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada requested that the Sandiganbayan allow him to wear civilian clothes during hearings, instead of the PDL uniform.
Estrada’s legal counsel, Atty. Noel Ostrea stressed this request before the Second Division of the anti-graft court. They pointed out that the Senator surrendered voluntarily.
“We are asking the court if he could appear as a regular person and not as an ordinary accused in BJMP uniform and handcuffs,” the lawyer said.
The lawyer referred to the BJMP as the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, which has jurisdiction over the New Quezon City Jail where Estrada is being held.
Estrada appeared before the Second Division on Tuesday, June 2, wearing a yellow BJMP detainee uniform with the words “BJMP: Changing Lives, Building a Safer Nation” written on the front and “PDL” on the back.
The senator and co-accused former DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan were scheduled to be arraigned in a graft case related to the flood control scandal, but it was postponed after the two’s legal counsel requested that the arraignment be rescheduled because there were still pending motions that needed to be resolved. The schedule of the arraignment on Thursday, June 4.
Meanwhile, Sen. JV Ejercito, the brother of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, expressed that he is saddened by what happened. However, Ejercito stressed that truth and justice shall prevail.