The Sandiganbayan has rejected a motion filed by Jinggoy Estrada seeking to compel the Office of the Ombudsman to submit the complete records of the preliminary investigation in his remaining graft case linked to the pork barrel controversy.
In a resolution dated March 12, 2026, the court denied Estrada’s motion for reconsideration and affirmed its earlier January 27, 2026 order rejecting the same request. The Sandiganbayan said Estrada’s request for the Ombudsman records was too broad and failed to clearly identify which documents were being sought and why they were necessary for the proceedings.
The court described the request as “all-encompassing” and said it lacked the specificity required for the court to compel the production of the documents. Because of this, the anti-graft court upheld its earlier ruling denying the motion.
The case is part of the broader controversy surrounding the multibillion-peso Priority Development Assistance Fund scam, where several lawmakers were accused of channeling public funds to non-government organizations allegedly linked to businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles. Authorities alleged that some projects funded through these allocations were fictitious and were used to divert government funds through a network of organizations and intermediaries.
Separate from the 2026 ruling on the Ombudsman records, the Sandiganbayan had earlier denied Estrada’s demurrer to evidence in the graft cases. In a March 26, 2025 resolution, the court found that prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence to establish a prima facie case, allowing the trial to continue. The court later denied Estrada’s motion for reconsideration of that ruling in an October 1, 2025 resolution.
A demurrer to evidence asks the court to dismiss a case after the prosecution finishes presenting its evidence, on the ground that the evidence is insufficient to support a conviction. By denying Estrada’s demurrer in 2025, the court ruled that the prosecution’s evidence, if left unrebutted, could support a conviction.
With the demurrer denied, the case moved to the defense stage, where Estrada has the opportunity to present his own evidence and witnesses to challenge the prosecution’s claims. Estrada has consistently denied wrongdoing and maintains that he will continue to defend himself in court.
