In a statement released Sunday, Estrada said he–and fellow senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Bong Revilla Jr.–”were continuously crucified and demonized in various forums: mass media, cyberspace, including the Senate blue ribbon committee.”
Witnesses have linked him to the scam.
Ruby Tuason, who used to work for former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada and former senator Loi Estrada, testified in February that she delivered bags of money to Senator Estrada’s office.
Earlier this month, Technology Research Center director general Dennis Cunanan said Estrada and Revilla chose the allegedly bogus NGOs that received their PDAF allocations.
Cunanan is on leave from the TRC and, like Tuason, faces plunder complaints over the scam.
Tremendous pressure, unfair publicity
“I wish that the Ombudsman will not give in to the tremendous pressure and unfair publicity generated by this controversy with extreme prejudice against me and my two colleagues,” he said.
“I also hope that she will not be rushed into making decisions and that she observes the proper legal processes, including the rights of the respondents during preliminary investigation,” Estrada added.
He added his counter-affidavit to a plunder complaint filed against him in September should show Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales that “truly there is no plunder case or any case to speak of.”
Estrada, who has denied involvement in a supposed scam that allegedly diverted PDAF allocations to bogus non-government organizations, has dismissed the plunder complaint against him as political in nature.
He has criticized the Commission on Audit report that prompted the filing of complaints as biased and selective.
He has also accused colleagues of prejudging him, Enrile, and Revilla, as well as of using Senate hearings on the scam for pre-election publicity.
Estrada has also cast doubt on the testimonies and characters of witnesses Cunanan, Tuason, and Benhur Luy. He said witnesses had been coached by the Department of Justice.
On Thursday, Estrada said he has been going around the country to “test the waters” for a possible bid for higher office in 2016 and claimed the so-called pork barrel scam is a non-issue in the provinces.
“The reception of the people towards me is warmer than before,” he said. — JDS, GMA News.
