Senator Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada and four co-respondents in a plunder case filed at the Department of Justice (DOJ) must secure court approval before leaving the country, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced on Tuesday, Feb. 17.
BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval explained in an interview on PTV’s Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon that the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 52 had issued a precautionary hold departure order (PHDO) on February 10.
The order bars Estrada and his co-respondents from traveling abroad without the court’s consent.
“With the precautionary hold departure order po kasi sinasabi hindi muna maaaring umalis ng bansa ‘yung subject dahil may kaso s’ya na kinakaharap,” she added.
However, Sandoval said there were cases when the courts, despite the PHDO, allowed the departure “on emergency cases or important and urgent matters to attend to abroad.”
She explained that a PHDO is issued by the court “because the judge has found that the person is a flight risk or will most likely flee the country to evade prosecution.”
The Manila RTC granted the petition of the DOJ prosecutors to issue a PHDO against Estrada, former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary Manuel Bonoan, former DPWH undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, DPWH Regional Director Gerard Opulencia, and former DPWH Bulacan district engineer Henry Alcantara.
They have been charged with plunder before the DOJ by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in the government’s flood control anomalies. The charge is undergoing preliminary investigation by a panel of prosecutors.
Of the five respondents, Bonoan has publicly stated his intention to go to the United States for his wife who will undergo a medical procedure this February.
Sandoval said that if Bonoan asks the court permission to travel abroad and the court bars him from leaving the country, the BI will not allow him to depart. (Jeffrey Damicog)
