WEAK EVIDENCE In dismissing the case in opposition to former Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, the antigraft court docket famous that not one of the prosecution witnesses testified that they handed the alleged pork barrel kickbacks on to the accused. —KATHLEEN DE VILLA
The Sandiganbayan on Friday threw out the P172.8-million plunder case in opposition to Juan Ponce Enrile, saying the prosecution submitted inadequate proof and failed to point out that the kickbacks he allegedly acquired from his pork barrel when he was a senator reached the minimal P50-million threshold for the crime.
“I knew all alongside that I’ll be acquitted as a result of I haven’t completed something,” mentioned the 100-year-old politician who now serves as authorized counsel for President Marcos after a listening to the place the court docket introduced his exoneration.
The antigraft court docket additionally acquitted his former chief of employees Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes and businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the rip-off to siphon off P10 billion from the now-defunct Precedence Growth Help Fund (PDAF) of the Senate and the Home of Representatives.
The PDAF scandal first got here to gentle in 2013 after the Inquirer uncovered the misuse of the fund allocations to lawmakers in ghost tasks for over 10 years. Underneath the scheme, the funds had been taken from the legislators’ pork barrels and funneled to bogus nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or foundations run by Napoles.
Enrile, Reyes and Napoles had been charged in 2014 with plunder for allegedly amassing P172.8 million in kickbacks or commissions from the previous Senate president’s pork barrel from 2004 to 2010.
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The prosecution’s “failure to show their guilt past cheap doubt” had moved the antigraft court docket to grant the separate demurrers to proof filed by Enrile and Napoles.
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Challenge price ‘proportion’
A demurrer is sought by respondents who imagine that the proof introduced in opposition to them in court docket is weak. Granting this movement is equal to an acquittal.
The Sandiganbayan allowed Enrile to file his demurrer in September final 12 months. The court docket, nevertheless, didn’t grant Reyes’ personal movement throughout the identical month, however finally acquitted her in its determination.
In its ruling, the five-member Third Division of the Sandiganbayan mentioned that the indictment in opposition to Enrile alleged that he or Reyes “repeatedly acquired” kickbacks or commissions from Napoles or her representatives “within the type of a proportion” of the price of the tasks to be funded from his PDAF.
“Nonetheless, not one of the prosecution witnesses testified that they handed or transferred cash to Enrile himself,” the court docket mentioned.
One of many prosecution witnesses, Ruby Tuason, a former social secretary for ex-President Joseph Estrada, “confirmed” that she didn’t give any cash to Enrile, it added.
The court docket took observe of the letters signed by Enrile requesting for fund releases in 2006, 2007 and 2010, but it surely additionally cited the testimony of an officer of the Senate’s legislative funds workplace that this was “common process.”
‘Evil in itself’
It mentioned that Enrile’s “legal intention” must be clearly established, contemplating that plunder was “mala ni se (evil in itself).
“It should be proven clearly and convincingly that in making the letter-requests, Enrile meant to obtain kickbacks or commissions in trade for his endorsement of Napoles’ NGOs,” the court docket mentioned.
“If the NGOs turned out to be spurious, then it ought to have been established that Enrile both participated within the faking of those NGOs, or knew on the time that he was making the letter-request that the NGOs had been bogus,” it identified.
The prosecution’s proof, it added, was “clearly wanting on these factors.”
It mentioned that of 24 entries amounting to P172.8 million in alleged kickbacks in a “abstract of rebates” recorded by rip-off whistleblower Benhur Luy, solely 10 had been acquired by Tuason.
‘Speculative, baseless’
Solely half of that, or 5 transactions, indicated in day by day disbursement stories (DDRs), had been supposedly disbursed to “Enrile,” “JPE” and a sure “Tanda” totaling P46.39 million. This quantity is beneath the P50-million threshold for the crime of plunder beneath Republic Act No. 7080.
The deliveries by Tuason to Reyes, supposedly meant for Enrile, had been additionally by no means detailed, the court docket careworn.
It dismissed as “speculative and baseless” the accusation that Reyes “couldn’t have consummated the scheme with out (Enrile’s) understanding and indispensable cooperation by his covert acts.”
“It’s clear that Tuason’s testimony was inconclusive and inadequate to show with ethical certainty that Reyes acquired monies forming a part of Enrile’s PDAF or that the identical handed her hand,” the antigraft court docket mentioned.
The court docket additionally raised doubts in regards to the legitimacy of the DDRs retrieved from the exterior drive of Luy, who served as Napoles’ monetary officer.
“How can we deal with these unsigned DDRs as credible items of proof once they had been printed solely in 2013, however they allegedly confirmed transactions that occurred in 2004 to 2010 or after nearly 10 years reckoned from 2004?” the court docket mentioned.
Receipt unproven
Concerning Napoles’ legal responsibility, the Sandiganbayan mentioned that Luy lacked proof to ascertain that the businesswoman had gotten a slice of Enrile’s pork barrel.
“For the reason that prosecution was unable to show the receipt of cash … by herein public officers Enrile and Reyes (the alleged important plunderers), then Napoles couldn’t be discovered chargeable for the offense charged because the foundation of her indictment was conspiracy with the mentioned public officers,” the court docket dominated.
Enrile’s lead protection counsel, the 94-year-old lawyer Estelito Mendoza, mentioned “this can be a vindication for all of us.” In contrast to Enrile, who may nonetheless stand on his personal with some help, Mendoza was wheelchair-bound.
Longest-serving
“I hope the individuals who filed these instances in opposition to us will look at their conscience,” Enrile mentioned in a weak voice after the Sandiganbayan handed down its ruling.
Enrile and Mendoza had been among the many longest-serving members of the Cupboard of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Enrile served as protection secretary earlier than breaking away from the dictator in 1986 whereas Mendoza remained loyal to Marcos as his solicitor normal.
Napoles, who hesitated talking with the media earlier than she stepped outdoors the courtroom, solely mentioned: “God is sweet!” She’s going to stay on the Correctional Institute for Ladies for her convictions on different PDAF-related fees.
Reyes refused to reply questions from reporters and went straight to the elevator in a rush to depart the courthouse. Enrile’s longtime aide was seen praying with a rosary simply earlier than the ruling was learn by lawyer Dennis Pulma, the division’s Govt Clerk of Courtroom.
The Sandiganbayan issued arrest warrants in opposition to two different coaccused within the plunder case—Ronald Lim, Napoles’ nephew, and John Raymund de Asis, her driver-bodyguard. Each stay in hiding.
‘Variance rule’
The 85-page determination was authored by Affiliate Justice Ronald Moreno, with the concurrence of Affiliate Justices Bernelito Fernandez, Geraldine Econg and Juliet Manalo-San Gaspar.
Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang, a member of the Fifth Division, gave a dissenting and concurring opinion, through which she voted to convict Reyes of 5 counts of direct bribery primarily based on the “variance” rule.
Underneath the Guidelines of Courtroom on Legal Process, the variance doctrine permits an accused to be convicted of a unique and lesser crime.
Cabotaje-Tang, nevertheless, agreed that Reyes, together with Enrile and Napoles, be cleared of plunder because of lack of proof past cheap doubt.
Not but over
Enrile, Reyes and Napoles are usually not fully off the hook legally as they’re nonetheless going through 15 counts of graft together with greater than 40 different respondents for allegedly diverting the P172.8-million public fund.
In April, Enrile was allowed by the Sandiganbayan to file a movement for the outright dismissal of his graft case. His lawyer Jecko Bello, nevertheless, selected to file a demurrer to proof with out go away of court docket.
This movement implies that he desires to skip the presentation of witnesses and proceed with the decision of his case on grounds that the prosecution’s proof in opposition to him is inadequate.
If the court docket grants Enrile’s demurrer to proof, he could be acquitted once more. However whether it is thrown out, the trial hearings will proceed.
Bail granted because of age
After his arrest in 2014, Enrile was detained on the Philippine Nationwide Police Normal Hospital. In August 2015, the Supreme Courtroom granted him bail, citing his superior age and poor well being.
Two different senators—Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.—had been additionally arrested and detained in 2014 on plunder fees.
Each Revilla and Estrada had been acquitted of plunder, however Estrada was convicted of the much less severe offenses of direct and oblique bribery in January, a choice the Sandiganbayan reversed in August.
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Revilla was additionally accused of 16 counts of graft for allegedly amassing P224.5 million in kickbacks. He was acquitted in July 2021. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH INQ
