A YouTube video claims that Sen. Jinggoy Estrada has been suspended from office. This is misleading. Estrada’s suspension order from the Sandiganbayan is not yet enforced pending his ongoing appeal.
Uploaded on May 20, the 10-minute video bore this headline:
“KAPAPASOK LANG: KUMPERMADO JINGGOY MALUPIT ang SINAPIT SUSPÉNDÉD na! HINARANG Kongreso ESCUDERO BATO
(Just in. Confirmed Jinggoy suffered something harsh, suspended already! Blocked Congress, Escudero, Bato).”
Its thumbnail also carried a text that read: “ITO ANG EBIDENSYA. SUSPENDED SA KONGRESO. ITO ANG BANGUNGOT SA BUHAY NI JINGGOY. (This is the evidence. Suspended from Congress. This is a nightmare in Jinggoy’s life).
While Estrada was ordered suspended from public office by the Sandiganbayan on Jan. 19, 2024 after he was found guilty of indirect bribery in the P10-billion pork barrel scam, the penalty has yet to be enforced.
The same day that the anti-graft court released its verdict on Estrada’s case, then Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said Estrada will continue with his duties unless the ruling becomes final and executory, and after all legal remedies have been exhausted.
Apart from suspension, Estrada has also been sentenced to four-to-six-year imprisonment, public censure and perpetual disqualification from the right of suffrage for two counts of indirect bribery. The senator is also facing up to nine years of jail time and a P3 million fine for a direct bribery conviction.
Estrada remains free after filing a motion for reconsideration before the Sandiganbayan. His camp will take the appeal to the Supreme Court, if necessary.
In 2014, Estrada faced a 90-day preventive suspension in the Senate on plunder charges related to the pork barrel scam. He was acquitted of plunder last January.
The video did not show any proof to support its claim but merely featured an audio clip from an anonymous narrator criticizing Estrada for doubting the credibility of a Senate probe witness who linked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to illegal drugs.
Estrada was recently elected Senate President pro tempore following the leadership shuffle in the upper chamber last May 20.
Uploaded by YouTube channel BANAT KAPANIG TV with 126,000 subscribers, the video drew 46,319 interactions. Facebook users also reposted the link.
