Former senator now chief presidential legal counsel Juan Ponce Enrile was cleared of his remaining case at the Sandiganbayan in connection with the multibillion-peso pork barrel fund scam.
In a decision promulgated yesterday, the anti-graft court’s Third Division acquitted Enrile, his former chief of staff Jessica Lucila ‘Gigi’ Reyes and detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles of 15 counts of violation of Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, citing the prosecution’s ‘failure to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.’
Enrile attended the promulgation via online video conference as his lawyer, Erwin Matib, informed the court that the 101-year-old former lawmaker was confined in the hospital.
Napoles also attended the promulgation via online video conference from the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City where she is currently detained.
Reyes, who personally attended the proceeding, turned emotional after the promulgation, briefly telling reporters she was ‘thankful’ of the court’s decision.
‘The court relied purely on the evidence presented and there was really no evidence against us. This is a vindication,’ said Reyes’ defense lawyer Anacleto Diaz.
Also acquitted of the cases were 30 other accused, including former Department of Budget and Management undersecretary Mario Relampagos, former DBM chief budget and management specialist Rosario Nunez and former administrative assistants Marilou Bare and Lalaine Paule as well as former officials of the defunct state firm Technology Resource Center (TRC): deputy director general Dennis Cunanan, group manager Maria Rosalinda Lacsamana and chief accountant Marivic Jover.
The court also acquitted Gondelina Amata, Emmanuel Sevidal, Ofelia Ordoñez, Filipina Rodriguez, Chita Jalandoni and Sofia Cruz – all former officers of the abolished state firm National Livelihood Dev. Corp. (NLDC) – as well as several private respondents that include Napoles’ children Jo Christine and James Christopher.
Last year, the Third Division acquitted Enrile, Reyes and Napoles of plunder still in connection with the pork barrel scam, citing the prosecution’s failure to establish a series of ‘overt criminal acts’ on the part of Enrile and his co-accused to amass ill-gotten wealth of at least P50 million, the threshold amount for the crime to be considered as plunder.
Filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2014, the plunder and graft cases stemmed from Enrile’s alleged receipt, through Reyes, of P172.83 million in commissions or kickbacks from Napoles allegedly in exchange for the allocation of his Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF to Napoles’ bogus non-government organizations (NGOs) when he was senator from 2004 to 2010.
Enrile was granted bail by the Supreme Court in 2015 on ‘humanitarian consideration,’ citing his frail health condition and old age.
Reyes, meanwhile, was released from the Taguig City Jail Female Dormitory in January 2023 after nearly nine years in detention.
Napoles, on the other hand, remains detained following her conviction for plunder in December 2018 in connection with the misuse of P517 million in the PDAF of former senator Bong Revilla Jr.
In giving the acquittal, the Third Division said that, just like in the plunder case, the ombudsman’s prosecution panel failed to prove all the elements of the charged crime.
The Third Division said it was not established that Enrile gave unwarranted benefits, advantages or preference to the Napoles-linked NGOs or that he received any kickbacks from Napoles for the endorsement of the latter’s NGOs as implementers of his PDAF-funded projects.
‘Since the endorsement of the NGO was merely recommendatory and the mandate to accredit and award the project still rests with the implementing agencies, such supposed endorsement by Enrile does not constitute manifest partiality or evident bad faith,’ a portion of the 193-page decision read.
The decision was per curiam or has no named ponente. It was signed by Associate Justices Ronald Moreno, division chair, and Arthur Malabaguio and Juliet Manalo-San Gaspar, members.
P338 million civil liability
Despite the acquittal, Napoles and 15 other accused linked with her NGOs and the abolished state firms TRC, NLDC and National Agribusiness Corp. were ordered to jointly pay the government P338 million in civil liability, with an interest rate of six percent per year to be reckoned from the finality of the decision until full payment.
The court pointed out that while all the accused were acquitted for failure of the prosecution to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt, it was still established that Enrile’s PDAF was released by the officials of the abolished state firms to Napoles’ NGOs.
‘A person acquitted of a criminal charge is not necessarily civilly free because the quantum of proof required in criminal prosecution (proof beyond reasonable doubt) is greater than that required for civil liability (mere preponderance of evidence),’ the Third Division’s decision read.
‘Here, the acquittal of the accused is due to the failure of the prosecution to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt. However, the prosecution was able to sufficiently establish by preponderance of evidence that the proceeds of the SAROs (special allotment release orders) were transferred to the six NGOs as recipients of public funds and that the PDAF-funded projects these NGOs supposedly implemented were fictitious or non-existent,’ it said.
The court said the prosecution was able to establish that Napoles exercised control over the NGOs, though she was not named as the owner.
Will this happen to flood control cases?
While Malacañang said the decision should be respected, House deputy minority leader Leila de Lima expressed frustration over the acquittal.
De Lima blamed the ‘slow wheels of justice,’ saying the accused relied on the public’s short memory to eventually be absolved because of less scrutiny over the years of trial.
‘This is always what is so frustrating for the ombudsman and the DOJ (Department of Justice). We started fresh and strong on the evidence when we filed the PDAF cases, strong enough to even deny Enrile and Reyes bail in the separate plunder cases,’ De Lima said in a statement.
She expressed fear that the same thing will happen to those involved in the flood control anomalies.
‘If this is what will happen to the flood control project cases, good luck to us. But then, some people are just really luckier than others. Faith in our justice system is difficult to achieve and/or sustain if the courts apply a different kind of justice to privileged offenders as compared to common accused,’ De Lima said.
For the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan or Bayan, the acquittal highlighted the continuing corruption and impunity in the country.
‘This is a grim reminder of how the justice system shields the rich and powerful and why bigger and sustained protests are needed to pursue accountability and justice,’ Bayan secretary general Raymond Palatino said.