MANILA — The Sandiganbayan has denied Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s motion seeking to have the anti-graft court fix the amount of bail for his temporary release.

In an eight-page resolution dated July 24, the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division ruled that Estrada’s motion was premature because he had yet to file a formal application for bail.

The court said a determination of whether an accused is entitled to bail must first be made through the required hearing before the amount of bail can be set.

“(T)he court finds that the instant motion to fix bail (filed by Estrada) is premature and devoid of legal basis. Until accused Estrada filed the appropriate application for bail and the court, after the requisite hearing, determines that the evidence of guilt against him is not strong, there is no occasion for the court to fix the amount of bail. The motion must, therefore, be denied,” the court said.

The anti-graft court added that Estrada’s motion sought to have the bail amount fixed without first resolving whether he was entitled to bail.

“This the court cannot do. The fixing of bail necessarily presupposes a prior determination that the accused is entitled to be admitted thereto. Without such determination, any discussion regarding the amount of bail would be premature,” it said.

The court also rejected Estrada’s argument that the ruling in his previous plunder case should serve as the basis for granting him bail in the present case.

“Bail was allowed only after the Sandiganbayan conducted the required evidentiary hearing on the strength of the prosecutions’ evidence. Here, accused Estrada attempts to bypass this indispensable constitutional requirement by asking the court immediately fix the amount of bail without undergoing the mandated summary bail hearing. Hence, he cannot use the outcome of his previous case to justify a procedural shortcut in the present motion,” the resolution read.