Napoles, 3 senators charged with plunder at Sandiganbayan

By AMITA O. LEGASPI, GMA News

Published June 6, 2014 3:50pm

(UPDATED 5:40 p.m.) Plunder charges were filed before the Sandiganbayan on Friday against Senate Minority Floor Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon 'Bong' Revilla in connection with the multibillion-peso pork barrel fund scam.

Representatives from the Ombudsman also filed similar charges against Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind in the racket that involved the diversion of billions of pesos worth of livelihood projects and farm inputs intended for poor farmers into ghost NGOs and kickbacks.

Also charged with plunder before the anti-graft court are Enrile's former chief of staff Jessica "Gigi" Reyes, Estrada's former employee Pauline Labayen and Revilla's staff member Richard Cambe. Similarly indicted are Napoles' nephew Ronald John Lim and John De Asis.

De Asis is an officer of at least one of Napoles' dubious non-government organizations.

A step forward

Malacañang welcomed the filing of the charges before the anti-graft court.

In a text message to reporters, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the development was "a step forward in the determination of the truth which will be the basis for exacting accountability under our justice system."

Meanwhile, a lawyer for Revilla said their camp was ready to file a motion to prevent the issuance of an arrest warrant against the senator.

"Nakahanda na kami para mag-file ng motion para pigilan ang pag-issue ng warrant of arrest (kay Revilla)," Revilla's lawyer Joel Bodegon told dzBB radio.

He added the Revilla camp will ask the docket to accept its motion to prevent the issuance of an arrest warrant against the senator.

Indictment

The indictment came a day after the Ombudsman announced that it has dismissed the motions for reconsideration of most of the respondents in the plunder and graft cases related to the scam.

The docket numbers were photographed by dzBB's Allan Gatus and GMA News' Joseph Morong.

Case No. SB-14-CRM-0238 refers to the charge of plunder against Enrile and co-accused Reyes Napoles, Lim and De Asis; Case No. SB-14-CRM-0239, Estrada and his co-accused Labayen,

Napoles and De Asis; and Case No. SB-14-CRM-0240, Revilla and his co-accused Cambe, Napoles, Lim and De Asis.

In separate informations filed by the Ombudsman, documents showed Enrile and his co-accused allegedly amassed P172.8 million from 2004 to 2010, Estrada and his co-accused allegedly got P183.79 million from 2004 to 2010, while Revilla and his co-accused allegedly received P224.5 million from 2006 to 2010.

Listed as witnesses against Enrile and Estrada were Ruby Tuason, Benhur Luy, Merlina Suñas and Marina Sula while those against Revilla were Luy, Suñas, and Sula.

The Ombudsman said the accused committed the offense in relation to their respective offices and conspiring with one another.

It said the accused repeatedly received from Napoles and her representatives kickbacks and commissions.

It added that before, during and after the project identification, the accused senator or his representative received a percentage of cost of the project to be funded by PDAF in exchange of the endorsement to the government agency of Napoles' foundation which became the recipient or target implementor of the project.

The project turned out to be ghost or fictitious thus enabling Napoles to misappropriate the PDAF proceeds for her personal gain.

The Ombudsman said the accused took "undue advantage, on several occasions, of their official position, authority, relationship, connection and influence to unjustly enrich themselves at the expense and to the damage and prejudice of the Filipino people."

The lawyers and representatives of Enrile and Revilla were at the Sandiganbayan when the cases were filed by they refused to give any comment.

They were supposed to file a motion but it was not received by the docket section as the case has yet to be raffled.

Raffle next week

The cases are expected to be raffled off next Friday to determine which of the five divisions of the Sandiganbayan will have jurisdiction over them.

In denying the motions for reconsideration of the respondents, the Ombudsman said it found that the appeal from the accused "carry verbatim repetitions of the issues and claims raised by respondents in their respective counter-affidavits."

The Ombudsman further stated: “Evidently, the motions for reconsideration are rehashes of the arguments previously raised by them and already resolved by this Office.”

According to the Ombudsman, "no violation of the right to procedural process was committed."

Ombudsman Conchita Morales on Friday created a special prosecution panel composed of three teams to handle the first set of criminal cases filed in connection with the PDAF controversy.

Prosecution teams

The prosecution panel is co-chaired by Deputy Special Prosecutor John Turalba and Acting Deputy Special Prosecutor Manuel Soriano Jr.

The panel's first team, which will prosecute the case against Enrile and his co-accused, is composed of its team leader Acting Director Janina Hidalgo, and Assistant Special Prosecutors Edwin Gomez, Jennifer Agustin-Se and Annielyn Medes-Cabellis.

The second team is composed of team leader Acting Director Danilo Lopez, Assistant Special Prosecutors Christina Marallag-Batacan, Anna Isabel Aurellano and Peter Jedd Boco. It will prosecute the case filed against Estrada and his co-accused.

The third team is composed of team leader Acting Director Joefferson Toribio, Assistant Special Prosecutors Jacinto Dela Cruz, Lyn Dimayuga and Emerita Francia. It will prosecute the case against Revilla and his co-accused. — with reports from Amanda Fernandez and Joel Locsin/NB/RSJ, GMA News

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