MANILA, Philippines – Associate Justices Arturo Brion and Presbitero Velasco Jr., both magistrates of the Supreme Court, expressed in separate opinions their belief that the Office of the Ombudsman failed to uphold the right to due process of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada.
The magistrates said that when the Office of the Ombudsman denied Estrada access to certain documents in the course of its probe into the pork barrel scam, it violated the senator’s rights.
Furthermore, according to the magistrates, grave abuse of discretion was committed by the Office of the Ombudsman in the unfair manner by which it concluded its probe; indicting Estrada while denying him access to the documents upon which their decision was based.
Despite Estrada’s having questioned the process of the Office of the Ombudsman, the decision was upheld by most of the magistrates, and charges against Estrada were filed before the Sandiganbayan.