Estrada V Sandigan Bayan Digest

JOSE JINGGOY E. ESTRADA, petitioner,vs.
SANDIGANBAYAN (THIRD DIVISION), PEOPLE OF

THE PHILIPPINES and OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN, respondents.
FACTS: Ombudsman issued a Joint Resolution[1] finding probable cause warranting the filing with the Sandiganbayan of several
criminal Informations against the former President and the other respondents therein. One of the Informations was for the crime of
plunder under Republic Act No. 7080 and among the respondents was herein petitioner Jose Jinggoy Estrada, then mayor of San Juan,
Metro Manila.
On April 30, 2001, petitioner filed a Very Urgent Omnibus Motion[2] alleging that: (1) no probable cause exists to put him on trial and
hold him liable for plunder, it appearing that he was only allegedly involved in illegal gambling and not in a series or combination of
overt or criminal acts as required in R.A. No. 7080; and (2) he is entitled to bail as a matter of right. Petitioner prayed that he be
excluded from the Amended Information and be discharged from custody. In the alternative, petitioner also prayed that he be allowed
to post bail in an amount to be fixed by respondent court.
Hence, this petition. Petitioner claims that respondent Sandiganbayan acted without or in excess of jurisdiction or with grave abuse of
discretion amounting to lack of jurisdiction.
ISSUE (1): Petitioners contention that R.A. No. 7080 is unconstitutional as applied to him is principally perched on the premise that
the Amended Information charged him with only one act or one offense which cannot constitute plunder.
HELD: Petitioners premise is patently false.
RATIO: A careful examination of the Amended Information will show that it is divided into three (3) parts: (1) the first paragraph
charges former President Joseph E. Estrada with the crime of plunder together with petitioner Jose Jinggoy Estrada, Charlie Atong
Ang, Edward Serapio, Yolanda Ricaforte and others; (2) the second paragraph spells out in general terms how the accused conspired in
committing the crime of plunder; and (3) the following four sub-paragraphs (a) to (d) describe in detail the predicate acts constitutive
of the crime of plunder pursuant to items (1) to (6) of R.A. No. 7080, and state the names of the accused who committed each act.
Contrary to petitioners posture, the allegation is that he received or collected money from illegal gambling on several instances. The
phrase on several instances means the petitioner committed the predicate act in series.
ISSUE (1.a): He was alleged to have received only the sum of P2 million, which amount is way below the minimum of P50 million
required under R.A. No. 7080.
HELD/RATIO: Respondent Jose Jinggoy Estrada, the present Mayor of San Juan, Metro Manila, appears to have also surreptitious
collection of protection money from jueteng operations in Bulacan. This is gleaned from the statements of Gov. Singson himself and
the fact that Mayor Estrada, on at least two occasions, turned over to a certain Emma Lim, an emissary of the respondent governor,
jueteng haul totalling P2 million, i.e., P1 million in January, 2000 and another P1 million in February, 2000. An alleged listahan of
jueteng recipients listed him as one Jingle Bell, as affirmed by Singson [TSN 8 & Dec. 2000 SICt/17 Oct. 2000 SBRC/SCI].[14]
Hence, contrary to the representations of the petitioner, the Ombudsman made the finding that P2 million was delivered to petitioner
as jueteng haul on at least two occasions. The P2 million is, therefore, not the entire sum with which petitioner is specifically charged.
This is further confirmed by the conclusion of the Ombudsman that:
x x x the aggregate sum of P545 million from jueteng collections of the operators thereof, channeled thru Gov. Luis Chavit Singson, in
exchange for protection from arrest or interference by law enforcers; x x x.
ISSUE (2): Petitioner contends that the plunder law does not provide sufficient and complete standards to guide the courts in dealing
with accused alleged to have contributed to the offense
HELD/RATIO: Petitioner, however, overlooks that the second paragraph of the Amended Information charges him to have conspired
with former President Estrada in committing the crime of plunder. His alleged participation consists in the commission of the predicate
acts specified in sub-paragraph (a) of the Amended Information. If these allegations are proven, the penalty of petitioner cannot be
unclear. It will be no different from that of the former President for in conspiracy, the act of one is the act of the other. The
imposable penalty is provided in Section 2 of R.A. No. 7080, viz:
Section 2. Any public officer who, by himself or in connivance with the members of his family, relatives by affinity or
consanguinity, business associates, subordinates or other persons, amasses, accumulates or acquires ill-gotten wealth through
a combination or series of overt or criminal acts as described in Section 1(d) hereof in the aggregate amount or total value of
at least Fifty million pesos (P50,000,000.00) shall be guilty of the crime of plunder and shall be punished by reclusion
perpetua to death. Any person who participated with the said public officer in the commission of an offense contributing to
the crime of plunder shall likewise be punished for such offense.
ISSUE (3): Petitioner also faults the respondent Sandiganbayan for sustaining the charge against petitioner for alleged offenses and
with alleged conspirators, with which and with whom he is not even remotely connected contrary to the dictum that criminal liability
is personal, not vicarious results in the denial of substantive due process.
The Amended Information, in its first two paragraphs, charges petitioner and his other co-accused with the crime of plunder.
The first paragraph names all the accused, while the second paragraph describes in general how plunder was committed and
lays down most of the elements of the crime itself. Sub-paragraphs (a) to (d) describe in detail the predicate acts that
constitute the crime and name in particular the co-conspirators of former President Estrada in each predicate act. The
predicate acts alleged in the said four sub-paragraphs correspond to the items enumerated in Section 1 (d) of R.A. No. 7080.
HELD/RATIO: From the foregoing allegations of the Amended Information, it is clear that all the accused named in sub-paragraphs
(a) to (d), thru their individual acts, conspired with former President Estrada to enable the latter to amass, accumulate or acquire illgotten wealth in the aggregate amount of P4,097,804,173.17. As the Amended Information is worded, however, it is not certain
whether the accused in sub-paragraphs (a) to (d) conspired with each other to enable the former President to amass the subject illgotten wealth. In light of this lack of clarity, petitioner cannot be penalized for the conspiracy entered into by the other accused with
the former President as related in the second paragraph of the Amended Information in relation to its sub-paragraphs (b) to (d). We
hold that petitioner can be held accountable only for the predicate acts he allegedly committed as related in sub-paragraph (a) of the
Amended Information which were allegedly done in conspiracy with the former President whose design was to amass ill-gotten wealth
amounting to more than P4 billion.
ISSUE (4): Some of our distinguished colleagues would dismiss the charge against the petitioner on the ground that the allegation of
conspiracy in the Amended Information is too general.
HELD/RATIO: In sum, therefore, there is hardly a substantial difference on how Philippine courts and American courts deal with
cases challenging Informations alleging conspiracy on the ground that they lack particularities of time, place, circumstances or causes.
In our jurisdiction, as aforestated, conspiracy can be alleged in the Information as a mode of committing a crime or it may be alleged
as constitutive of the crime itself. When conspiracy is alleged as a crime in itself, the sufficiency of the allegations in the Information
charging the offense is governed by Section 6, Rule 110 of the Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure. It requires that the information
for this crime must contain the following averments:
Sec. 6. Sufficiency of complaint or information.- A complaint or information is sufficient if it states the name of the accused,
the designation of the offense given by the statute; the acts or omissions complained of as constituting the offense; the name
of the offended party; the approximate date of the commission of the offense; and the place where the offense was committed.
When the offense was committed by more than one person, all of them shall be included in the complaint or information.
The complaint or information to be sufficient must state the name of the accused, designate the offense given by statute, state the acts
or omissions constituting the offense, the name of the offended party, the approximate date of the commission of the offense and the
place where the offense was committed.
Again, following the stream of our own jurisprudence, it is enough to allege conspiracy as a mode in the commission of an offense in
either of the following manner:
1.
by use of the word conspire, or its derivatives or synonyms, such as confederate, connive, collude, etc; or
2.
by allegations of basic facts constituting the conspiracy in a manner that a person of common understanding would know
what is intended, and with such precision as would enable the accused to competently enter a plea to a subsequent indictment
based on the same facts.
In the case at bar, the second paragraph of the Amended Information alleged in general terms how the accused committed the crime of
plunder. It used the words in connivance/conspiracy with his co-accused. Following the ruling inQuitlong, these words are sufficient
to allege the conspiracy of the accused with the former President in committing the crime of plunder.
ISSUE (5): On August 14, 2002, during the pendency of the instant petition before this Court, petitioner filed with respondent
Sandiganbayan an Urgent Second Motion for Bail for Medical Reasons.
HELD/RATIO: The crime of plunder is punished by R.A. No. 7080, as amended by Section 12 of R.A. No. 7659, with the penalty of
reclusion perpetua to death. Under our Rules, offenses punishable by death, reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment are non-bailable
when the evidence of guilt is strong, to wit:
Sec. 7. Capital offense or an offense punishable by reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment, not bailable. No person charged
with a capital offense, or an offense punishable by reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment, shall be admitted to bail when
evidence of guilt is strong, regardless of the stage of the criminal prosecution

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JOSE JINGGOY E. ESTRADA, petitioner,vs.

SANDIGANBAYAN (THIRD DIVISION), PEOPLE OF

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