ENRILE, NAPOLES, REYES CLEARED OF PLUNDER

THE Sandiganbayan on Friday acquitted former Senate president and now Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile and two others of plunder charges after more than 10 years of trial.

Enrile’s co-accused in the P172.83 million case, his former chief of staff Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes and convicted pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, were also found not guilty of the charge.

Enrile and Napoles were acquitted without presenting any defense as the court granted their respective demurrers to evidence, in which they prayed for the dismissal of the case solely on the ground of the weakness of evidence of the prosecution.

The Sandiganbayan Special Third Division granted the 100-year-old Enrile’s demurrer, or objection, to evidence as well as Napoles’ own demurrer.

Reyes, meanwhile, was acquitted after months of presenting her counter-evidence.

The 84-page decision was penned by Associate Justice Ronald Moreno

Concurring with Moreno were Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang and Associate Justices Bernelito Fernandez, Geraldine Faith Econg, and Juliet Manalo-San Gaspar.

According to the decision, the prosecution failed to establish that Enrile received some of the money that was amassed from his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) for 2006, 2007 and 2010.

Enrile’s letter request to the Senate president or the Senate Committee on Finance was a “regular process” that is being issued by the senators for use as financial assistance to a certain local government unit.

The court said none of the prosecution witnesses testified that they were handed or transferred money to Enrile himself coming from Napoles’ kickbacks.

The prosecution also did not establish whether Reyes was able to acquire ill-gotten wealth from Ruby Tuason, the socialite who allegedly acted as the middleman in the transactions between Reyes and Enrile.

Napoles nephew, Luy, who was also implicated in the scandal, has testified that he did not have enough evidence to prove that Napoles received a portion of Enrile’s PDAF.

The Office of the Ombudsman filed the plunder charges on June 5, 2014.

Enrile’s chief legal counsel, former solicitor-general Estelito Mendoza described the decision as a “vindication” for the former senator and his co-accused.

“We are vindicated. It was a long road but today, JPE is acquitted, including Gigi Reyes,” Mendoza said.

Reyes immediately left the Sandiganbayan building after her acquittal.

Despite her acquittal, Napoles will remain in prison as she was earlier convicted of plunder and multiple counts of graft also in connection with the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam.