EDITORIAL— Where’s the P124.5 million?

The Sandiganbayan has rejected a petition of former senator Bong Revilla and his co-accused to dismiss the malversation case filed against them related to an alleged P92-million ghost flood control project in Bulacan.

This was announced yesterday by the clerk of court of the Sandiganbayan Third Division, which drew flak in August this year after it allowed Revilla to post bail of P1 million in what many people thought was a non-bailable case.

Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla, whose office filed the case in court, openly expressed dismay over the grant of bail, insinuating case fixing as he commented, “mukhang natrabaho.”

Associate Justices Ronald Moreno and Fritz delos Santos of the Third Division approved the bail, while division chair Associate Justice Karl Miranda dissented.

That bail could have encouraged Revilla and his co-defendants to move for dismissal of the case on Oct. 19 through a demurrer to evidence, arguing that the prosecution failed to present evidence strong enough to establish guilt. This was rejected by the Third Division.

While this is welcomed by those seeking accountability in the flood control corruption scandal, people are also waiting for the anti-graft court to act on another issue involving Revilla, with the amount larger than the pending corruption case.

This is the plunder case related to the pork barrel scam, in which Revilla’s Senate chief of staff Richard Cambe was convicted and sent to prison while the senator himself was acquitted in December 2018 by the Special First Division of the Sandiganbayan.

In a strange ruling, the special division also ordered Revilla together with Cambe to return to the National Treasury P124.5 million. Revilla refused, arguing that his acquittal in the criminal case also cleared him of civil liability.

The ombudsman asked the Sandiganbayan to issue an order for execution of its judgment, to compel Revilla to return the P124.5 million. This was way back in January 2019; the anti-graft court has yet to act on the petition, which Revilla’s camp had challenged.

As of August this year, Revilla was still holding on to the P124.5 million. Cambe died of a stroke in April 2021 while serving his life term at the New Bilibid Prison.

The Philippine justice system is notorious for its glacial pace, and Revilla’s case is a good example. How long does it take for the Sandiganbayan to make its own ruling final and executory?