The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division on Thursday waived the cross-examination by the counsel of Senator Jinggoy Estrada of two witnesses in the 11 counts of graft charges he is facing over the alleged misuse of around P255 million in Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) in 2013.
This came after Estrada’s co-accused — former National Livelihood Development Corporation president Gondelina Amata and former Technology Resource Center group manager Francisco Figura — moved to waive the scheduled cross-examination by Estrada’s lawyer, Paul Mar Arias.
Amata and Figura were supposed to take the witness stand to defend themselves from the charges.
The motions were seconded by the prosecution. Arias was not in the courtroom at the time, prompting the anti-graft court to rule in favor of Amata and Figura.
The next hearings on the 11 graft cases against Estrada and his co-accused are scheduled on 10 March and 18 April.
The Sandiganbayan had earlier cleared Estrada of the P183-million plunder, direct bribery, and two counts of indirect bribery charges over the alleged misuse of his PDAF, the discretionary fund allotted to members of Congress for projects intended to benefit their constituents.
In acquitting Estrada of plunder, the court said prosecutors failed to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and found that Estrada was not aware of the scheme allegedly concocted by Janet Lim Napoles, whom the court said had been making a business out of the PDAF.
The court also acquitted Estrada of direct bribery and the two counts of indirect bribery due to lack of evidence, saying that aside from the P1 million deposit to Estrada’s Bank of Commerce account, the prosecution failed to present other evidence proving the money was sent to Estrada.