Sandiganbayan also clears Napoles, Reyes of P172-m PDAF scam
Former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile and two co-accused were acquitted of the P172-million plunder case filed against them by the Ombudsman on Friday.
The 100-year-old Enrile, who is chief presidential legal counsel of President Marcos, was cleared of plunder, defined as large-scale corruption, after a trial lasting 10 years.
Prosecutors alleged he and other defendants took P172 million in public funds that were allegedly diverted to ghost projects, a crime punishable by life imprisonment.
“After due consideration, the court finds that the prosecution failed to prove the guilt of accused Enrile… of the offense charged beyond reasonable doubt,” the Sandiganbayan said.
“I knew all along that I would be acquitted because… we haven’t done anything in this case. I hope the people who filed those cases against us will examine their conscience,” Enrile told reporters after his acquittal.
Also acquitted were Enrile’s former chief of staff Jessica “Gigi” Reyes and businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles.
However, Presiding Justice Amparo M. Cabotaje-Tang, in a separate concurring and dissenting opinion, said Reyes is guilty of five counts of direct bribery in connection with the P172-million pork barrel scam.
She said the Daily Disbursement Reports of state witness Benhur Luy proved that Reyes received P46.38 million from Napoles.
“As established by the testimony of Ruby Tuason, she and accused Reyes met several times from 2006 to 2009. Tuason also explicitly declared that she personally delivered the money that she received from Luy in accused Napoles’ office to accused Reyes. The money was given to accused Reyes, with Tuason serving as the intermediary, in connection with her participation in the scheme of accused Napoles to funnel the money which were earmarked for PDAF projects to her bogus non-government organizations (NGOs),” Cabotaje-Tang said.
“Specifically, as Chief of Staff of accused Enrile, accused Reyes herself liaised with Tuason and agreed to the proposal of accused Napoles, through Tuason, to endorse accused Napoles’ bogus NGOs as implementors of the projects funded by accused Enrile’s PDAF. It was also accused Reyes who informed accused Napoles, through Tuason, in 2004 that there was a budget of around P30 to 31 million which they could give to accused Napoles,” she added.
Two other co-accused – Ronald John Lim and John Raymund de Asis – remained at large. The Sandiganbayan issued another warrant of arrest against them.
Napoles, in a separate interview, said: “Of course, I am happy.”
She, however, will remain in jail due to two plunder convictions in connection with the pork barrel scam.
Enrile was arrested in July 2014 while he was a sitting senator, but he was promptly moved to a hospital and allowed to post bail 13 months later due to his advanced age.
The decision was written by Associate Justice Ronald B. Moreno with the concurrence of Associate Justices Bernelito R. Fernandez, Geraldine Faith E. Econg, and Juliet M. Manalo-San Gaspar. With AFP
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline “Philippine court says top Marcos aide not guilty of graft.”
