SENATOR Jose Victor Ejercito on Monday vowed to clear his name after he pleaded not guilty during his arraignment before the Sandiganbayan for graft, which he described as the “very first court hearing” for a suit filed against him as an accused.
“We are confident that the evidence and witnesses we have will show who is right and what indeed happened,” Ejercito said.
“I want to get this case over and done with as soon as possible. Justice delayed is justice denied.”
He made his statement even as the Sandiganbayan’s Fourth Division on Monday ordered the arrest of ex-Laguna governor ER Ejercito for failing to appear in his arraignment for graft.
The anti-graft court questioned the alteration in the date of ER’s medical certificate that was presented by his lawyer Antonio Jose Gerardo Paz.
The court ordered the confiscation of ER Ejercito’s P30,000 bail bond.
JV Ejercito is the son of former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada with San Juan Mayor Guia Gomez, who is also seeking reelection.
The opposition senator said he had never had a court case and had been very careful to keep his record as a public servant clean and his reputation unblemished.
“My lawyer Attorney Sig Fortun and I both agreed not to delay the case any further,” he said.
He said the Ombudsman’s filing of graft charges against him was politically motivated.
He said he believed the Zamora family, his family’s political rival in San Juan, was behind the charges.
JV Ejercito denied the alleged anomalous purchase of high-powered firearms using San Juan City’s calamity fund when he was mayor in 2008.
He and Fortun attended his arraignment at the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division.
The Sandiganbayan had ordered him arrested on April 6 after it found “sufficient grounds” to proceed with the graft and malversation charges filed by the Office of the Ombudsman. A day later, he posted a P30,000 bail for his temporary freedom.