Enrile’s plunder case set for trial

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has ruled to proceed with the trial proper of the 2014 plunder case against former senator Juan Ponce Enrile in connection with the so-called pork barrel scam.

In its resolution promulgated last Oct. 29, the Sandiganbayan Third Division said “the presentation of the Prosecution’s first witness shall proceed in the next scheduled hearing.” The first witness, however, was not named in the ruling.

It was in June 2014 when the Office of the Ombudsman filed plunder and 15 counts of graft against Enrile, his former chief of staff Jessica Lucila Reyes and businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

The cases stemmed from Enrile’s alleged receipt of a total of P172.83 million in commissions or kickbacks from Napoles in exchange for the alleged allocation of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel to the latter’s bogus non-government organizations from 2004 to 2010.

The trial of the plunder case, however, has yet to formally start following the filing of numerous motions and marking of voluminous documentary exhibits.

The latest of these resolved by the anti-graft court was Enrile’s counter-manifestation expressing his objection to the plan of the ombudsman’s prosecution team to utilize the judicial affidavit of lawyer Ryan Medrano, director IV of the ombudsman’s Field Investigation Office (FIO).

“The court also takes this opportunity to remind accused Enrile that there is a proper time and appropriate motion to object to the testimony of Atty. Medrano on the basis of its purported irrelevancy and inadmissibility, and it is not a mere counter-manifestation,” the Third Division said.

It pointed out that under Section 6 of the Judicial Affidavit Rule, the adverse party may “move to disqualify the witness or to strike out his affidavit or any of the answers found in it on ground of inadmissibility” at the time of the presentation of the witness.

Prior to being a director of the FIO, Medrano used to be a graft investigation and prosecution officer (GIPO) from 2010 to 2018. He was part of the special team created by the ombudsman to conduct the fact-finding investigation on the release and use of Enrile’s pork barrel funds.

Medrano’s team eventually prepared a complaint of plunder and violation of Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) against Enrile, Reyes and Napoles.

The Third Division had earlier denied Enrile’s formal motion to bar the ombudsman from utilizing Medrano’s judicial affidavit.

Reyes is currently detained at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology Female Dormitory in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig while Napoles is detained at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City following her conviction of plunder in connection with the misuse of P517 million in PDAF of former senator Ramon Revilla Jr.