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Enrile, Reyes, Napoles cleared of plunder in pork scam,15 counts of graft still pending
By J.Lo
“I thank justices for rendering justice for all of us. I knew all along that I’ll be acquitted because I have not done anything…we have not done anything in this case and hope people who filed these cases against us will examine their conscience,” centenarian former senator and now presidential legal adviser Juan Ponce Enrile after decade, trial for plunder by Sandiganbayan ended in their acquital.
In vote of 4-1, Sandiganbayan Special Third Division acquitted Enrile, Reyes and Napoles “for failure of prosecution to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.”
Plunder cases, filed by Office of the Ombudsman on June 5, 2014, stemmed from Enrile’s alleged receipt, from his former chief of staff Jessica Lucila Reyes and businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles of total of P172.83 million in commissions or kickbacks from Napoles in exchange for allocation of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel to businesswoman’s bogus non-government organizations, during his term as senator from 2004 to 2010.
Enrile and Napoles were acquitted without presenting any defense as court granted their respective demurrers to evidence, in which they prayed for dismissal of the case solely on ground of weakness of evidence of prosecution.
Reyes, meanwhile, was acquitted after months of presenting her counter-evidence.
Following their acquittal, court ordered lifting of hold departure order (HDO) on Enrile, Reyes and Napoles as well as release of bail bond that they previously posted for their provisional liberty.
Court , meanwhile, ordered issuance of new arrest warrants against Napoles’ nephew Ronald Lim and former employee John Raymund de Asis, as their cases were temporarily archived.
Enrile’s chief legal counsel, former solicitor-general Estelito Mendoza, meanwhile, described decision as “vindication” for the former senator and his co-accused.
“We are vindicated… long road but today, JPE is acquitted, including Gigi Reyes,” Mendoza said.
Reyes immediately left Sandiganbayan building after her acquittal, while Napoles was escorted by personnel of Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) back to Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City.
Despite her acquittal, Napoles will remain in prison as she was earlier convicted of plunder and multiple counts of graft also in connection with multibillion-peso pork barrel scam.
None of prosecution lawyers from Office of the Ombudsman granted interviews with media after promulgation.
Enrile, Reyes and Napoles, however, are still facing 15 counts of graft before Third Division in connection with same alleged PDAF misuse.
Enrile was granted bail by Supreme Court (SC) in 2015 for “humanitarian consideration,” citing his frail health condition and old age.
Reyes, meanwhile, was released from Taguig City Jail Female Dormitory in January 2023 after nearly nine years in detention, after SC granted her petition for writ of habeas corpus. In its resolution, SC said Reyes’ nine years of detention for pending plunder case was violation of her right to speedy trial and right to liberty.
In its 84-page decision, Sandiganbayan Third Division said prosecution panel of the ombudsman failed to establish all elements of plunder as defined under Section 2 of Republic Act 7080 or Anti-Plunder Law.
For one, court said it was not established that there was series of “overt criminal acts” on the part of Enrile and his co-accused to amass ill-gotten wealth of at least P50 million, threshold amount for crime to be considered as plunder.
Court said while it was established that Enrile wrote letter-requests to Senate committee on finance for release of his PDAF for 2006, 2007 and 2010 to various NGOs, that did not prove anything, especially his “criminal intention to commit offense.”
“It must be shown clearly and convincingly that in making letter-requests, Enrile intended to receive kickbacks or commissions in exchange for his endorsement of Napoles’ NGO If it turned out to be spurious, then it should have been established that Enrile either participated in the faking of these NGOs, or knew at the time that he was making letter-request NGOs were bogus…prosecution’s evidence was clearly wanting on these pointss,” Sandiganbayan said in its decision, penned by Associate Justice Ronald Moreno.
More importantly, court said, no documentary evidence or witnesses was presented by prosecution to prove Enrile or Reyes personally received commissions or kickbacks from Napoles or from any of the latter’s employees or representatives.
“Verily, prosecution failed to prove allegation that Enrile received percentage of the cost of any project funded from his PDAF in consideration for latter’s endorsement to Napoles’ NGO,” decision read.
Court said while state witness Ruby Tuason testified that she delivered Enrile’s kickbacks to Reyes, no other evidence or witnesses were presented to corroborate her claim.
“Clearly, Tuason made no mention at all of amounts, and details and particulars of alleged deliveries she made to Reyes…nowhere in her testimony did she ever state that she delivered particular sum to Reyes corresponding to specific project, specific date of delivery and specific place where kickbacks and commission had been received,” court said.
As for Napoles, court said she cannot be solely convicted of plunder as Plunder Law requires main plunderer or plunderers are public officials.
Court said private individual can only be held guilty of plunder if proven that he or she conspired with public official in commission of crime.
“Since prosecution was unable to prove receipt of money as alleged in the case Information by herein public officers Enrile and Reyes , alleged main plunderers, then Napoles could not be found liable for offense charged since basis of her indictment was conspiracy with said public officers,” court also said.
Furthermore, Sandiganbayan stated it was not proven “with moral certainty” amount of kickbacks or commission allegedly received by Enrile or Reyes from Napoles was at least P50 million.
Court said based on “ledger” or daily disbursement records (DDR) of Napoles’ former employee and primary witness Benhur Luy, only P46.387 million was indicated.
Associate Justices Bernelito Fernandez, Geraldine Faith Econg and Juliet Manalo-San Gaspar concurred with ruling.
Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice and Third Division chairperson Amparo Cabotaje-Tang, while concurring with acquittal of Enrile, voted for conviction of Reyes on five counts of direct bribery and Napoles on five counts corruption of public officials.
For Tang, prosecution was able to sufficiently establish that Reyes received total of P46.387 million from Napoles for PDAF allocation of Enrile released to NGOs controlled by Napoles.
“Further, as established earlier, DDRs of Luy and testimony of Tuason proved that accused Reyes, through Tuason, received from accused Napoles amount of P46,387,500.00 on at least five different instances,” Tang’s 255-page concurring and dissenting opinion read.
For Tang, Reyes should be sentenced to minimum of eight years to maximum of nine years and four months of imprisonment for each count of offense while Napoles should be sentenced to eight years to 10 years of imprisonment for each count of her offense.
Tang said Reyes and Napoles must also be meted with fine of P139 million each.
Enrile was among the three senators charged with plunder during administration of late former president Benigno Aquino III in connection with pork barrel scam.
Sandiganbayan had earlier acquitted Sen. Bong Revilla and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada of their respective plunder cases.
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