THE Supreme Court (SC) has dismissed with finality the bid of detained former Senator Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada Jr. to exclude the testimony of pork barrel scam whistleblower Benhur Luy in connection with the alleged misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
"The Court denied with finality petitioner Estrada's motion for reconsideration of its January 24, 2017 Resolution for not having raised any new and substantive arguments to merit a reconsideration," SC spokesperson Theodore Te said Tuesday.
In the January 24 Resolution, the SC denied the petition for certiorari and prohibition filed by Estrada questioning the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division's ruling that allowed Luy's testimony to be an evidence in the cases filed against him.
The Court said that the "Sandiganbayan committed no grave abuse of discretion in not suppressing the questioned disbursement reports and the testimony of witness Benhur Luy."
In his petition with the SC, the former lawmaker said Luy's testimony and the disbursement reports were obtained in violation of his constitutional right against unreasonable search and seizure, therefore inadmissible as evidence.
The SC, however, ruled that since Luy is a private individual, Estrada cannot invoke the said right as the Constitution only provides guarantee against unlawful searches and seizures conducted by agents of the government.
Estrada is set to face a full-blown trial on June 19 for pocketing an alleged P183.79 million in kickbacks from the fake foundations of pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles.
Estrada was arrested for plunder in June 2014 and has been detained at the Philippine Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City. (VoxPop Philippines)
