Good while it lasted President Rodrigo Duterte said his final 2019 list does not include former Sen. Jinggoy Estrada. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

February 16th, 12:05am February 15th, 11:10pm Kristina Maralit

Days after Malacañang defended President Rodrigo Duterte’s supposed endorsement of former Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada’s return bid, the former lawmaker was obviously stricken off the President’s list.

Estrada was absent from the Chief Executive’s final slate for the coming May elections when he led the proclamation and kick-off rally of the Partido ng Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP) in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan last Thursday.

Mr. Duterte raised the hands of his party’s main five bets plus six guest candidates, with Estrada – nor his campaign materials – nowhere in sight.

Estrada, enjoying temporary freedom after being granted bail over plunder and graft charges by the Sandiganbayan, was merely accommodated based on the President’s statement.

He was expected to be among the “chosen ones” after the President raised his hand in a peace and order summit attended by the President in Legazpi City, Albay last week.

“He was there. I can’t ignore him. How could I not, even for just one single day, say that I am endorsing 13 candidates? What is that to a friend? We know that he had suffered. We know that he was in prison,” Mr. Duterte told reporters after the event.

This was echoed by presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo, saying the President is one who “does not embarrass people.”

The official also said the President not endorsing Estrada is not because of his corruption cases, but because, being a former senator, he may no longer need an endorsement and win because of name recall.

The door was closed on the possibility of Mr. Duterte reconsidering.

“I have to be true to myself. Whoever I mentioned here (at the proclamation rally), that’s it,” he stressed.

Asked why Estrada, former Sen. Bong Revilla Jr. and former broadcast journalist Jiggy Manicad, some of the names endorsed by his daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio’s Hugpong ng Pagbabago, were left out from his list, Mr. Duterte maintained it was because they “cannot agree on all personalities.”

Estrada, son of convicted plunderer former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada to former Sen. Dr. Loi Estrada, is currently on temporary liberty after being allowed by the Sandiganbayan to post bail.

In a close 3-2 decision last year, the Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division granted Estrada’s second pleading, an omnibus motion to post bail on insufficiency of evidence and humanitarian grounds.

The court, however, denied Estrada’s motion to dismiss the case.

Estrada is accused of plunder and 11 counts of graft for allegedly pocketing P183.79 million from his Priority Development Assistance Fund allocation from 2004 to 2010 in the wide-ranging scheme allegedly masterminded by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles in collusion with lawmakers.

In his motion, the actor-turned politician successfully argued that the prosecution failed to prove that he was the “main plunderer” or mastermind in the pork barrel scheme.

This was the same argument used by former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo to win an acquittal from the Supreme Court in 2016 on charges she plundered state lottery funds.

“I respect the recent statements made by President Duterte and the decision of the PDP regarding their preferred senatorial bets,” Estrada in a statement said.

“With or without the endorsement of the President, I will continue to be an ally of this administration. My support to this administration is not diminished in any way,” he added.

Ousted via the so-called People Power 2 in 2001 after only three years as President, the elder Estrada was found guilty of plunder but was pardoned by Arroyo in 2007.

On 31 July 2018, the Supreme Court upheld the findings of the Office of the Ombudsman, indicting. Jinggoy for plunder and graft in connection with his alleged involvement in the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam.