The Sandiganbayan entered a not guilty plea for Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada on Thursday after he declined to personally plead to the graft and plunder charges filed against him.
Estrada is facing allegations that he received ₱573.75 million in kickbacks from infrastructure and flood-control projects. The case adds another high-profile name to the widening list of public officials and political figures being placed under court scrutiny over alleged misuse of public funds.
Because Estrada did not personally enter a plea, the court entered one on his behalf, allowing the proceedings to move forward. A not guilty plea means the case now proceeds through the trial process, where prosecutors must prove the allegations and the defense will have the chance to challenge the evidence.
Estrada’s lawyer said they are also maintaining a petition to allow him to post bail for the plunder charge. Plunder is generally treated as a non-bailable offense when evidence of guilt is strong, making the bail issue a major legal battle even before the full trial unfolds.
The case now places Estrada’s defense under pressure to confront both the scale of the alleged kickbacks and the legal threshold needed to fight detention. For the court, the next question is not political noise, but evidence: whether prosecutors can prove the alleged flow of money, and whether Estrada’s camp can break the case piece by piece.
Image from The Philippine STAR / Miguel De Guzman