Bong asks Ombudsman to suspend plunder probe

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. has asked the Office of the Ombudsman to suspends it preliminary investigation on the plunder complaint filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in connection with the pork barrel scam.

In a 17-page motion, Revilla urged the Ombudsman to suspend its preliminary investigation pending the resolution of the civil case based on the same issue before Branch 19 of the Regional Trial Court of Bacoor City in Cavite.

“Hence, Sen. Revilla moves for the suspension of the preliminary investigation and any proceeding before the Honorable Office until the civil case is resolved with finality,” the motion read.

In the civil complaint before the local court, Revilla invoked Articles 1346 and 1409 of the New Civil Code, which provide that simulated and fictitious contracts are inexistent and void from the beginning.

Revilla’s legal team argued that the civil complaint for the declaration of the nullity of the documents involves facts intimately related to the plunder complaint.

“…the civil and criminal complaint[s] are so intimately related that they, in fact, both involve essentially the same set of documents,” the senator’s motion read.

His lawyers noted that the criminal complaint focuses on the documents based on the Priority Development Assistance Fund, particularly the endorsement letters, which were used to establish direct links to the senator and the alleged pork barrel scheme.

The civil complaint calls for the declaration as “null and void” of the documents since Revilla and his staff member, Richard Cambe, “had no participation in their execution, and hence, have no knowledge of the underlying transactions and of their actual existence.”

His legal team said the determination of whether the PDAF documents must be nullified on the ground that Revilla’s signatures were forged will necessarily affect the proceedings to the extent that it will determine the guilt or innocence of the senator.

“Specifically, the nullification of the PDAF documents will completely sever Sen. Revilla’s alleged link to the instant criminal charge and will thereby warrant the dismissal of the criminal case against him,” the motion read.

The Ombudsman has set hearings on the two motions filed by the senator Friday, January 24.

Revilla had also filed separate counter-affidavits before the Ombudsman, belying allegations that he amassed millions out of his pork barrel allocations from 2006 to 2010, supposedly out of kickbacks through the non-government organizations (NGOs) created by businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles.

The senator had also filed counter-charges of plunder against 16 persons, including heads of the implementing agencies dragged into the pork barrel scam and the so-called whistleblowers led by Benhur Luy.