Malacañang on Friday told the public to respect the Sandiganbayan’s decision acquitting former Senate President and current Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile of his remaining graft charges.
The statement came in response to the anti-graft court’s ruling clearing Enrile, his former chief of staff Jessica Lucila ‘Gigi’ Reyes, and businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles of 15 counts of graft.
‘The court has spoken, so let’s respect it. Let’s respect whatever decision the court has made,’ Palace press officer Claire Castro said at a briefing.
Castro also dispelled possible doubts that the Palace was merely slapping the accused on the wrist, particularly since Enrile is a sitting government official.
She emphasized that there is a separation of powers between the legislative and the judicial branches.
‘We should trust our justice system,’ she also said.
‘What the President wants is that when a case is filed, it shouldn’t be rushed-the evidence must be complete. Because if there are even small mistakes, especially in a criminal case, any doubt-and if the accused is not proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt-will lead to an acquittal,’ she also said.
In acquitting Enrile, Reyes, and Napoles, the Sandiganbayan ruled that ‘the prosecution failed to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.’
The charges stemmed from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel scandal that surfaced in 2013 after the Inquirer exposed the misuse of lawmakers’ discretionary funds for ghost projects.
These allocations were allegedly funneled into a network of fake nongovernmental organizations operated by Napoles.
The three were indicted in 2014 for plunder, accused of pocketing P172.8 million in kickbacks from Enrile’s PDAF between 2004 and 2010.
Napoles, meanwhile, was separately convicted of plunder in 2018 in connection with former Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr.’s pork barrel funds.
In October 2024, Enrile was acquitted of plunder, ruling that the prosecution failed to prove he received at least P50 million in kickbacks-the threshold for plunder. Aside from Enrile, Revilla, and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada were also charged with plunder over the PDAF scam, but were later acquitted.