Sandiganbayan reschedules Enrile graft case ruling
MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan Special Third Division rescheduled the verdict on the 15 graft cases against chief presidential legal counsel Juan Ponce Enrile, his former chief of staff Gigi Reyes and businesswoman Janet Napoles in relation to the pork barrel scam.
Division Clerk of Court Dennis Pulma said that a reflection was submitted by a member of the Special Third Division on the case.
“It is proper to defer the promulgation as the reflection will require further deliberation. Accordingly, the promulgation set for today is reset to Oct. 24, 2025,” Pulma said.
The 101-year-old Enrile attended the scheduled promulgation through Zoom while Reyes attended in person.
Napoles, a central figure in the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), also attended the hearing as a co-accused. Napoles is currently incarcerated after an earlier graft conviction.
Enrile, Reyes and Napoles were charged with graft after the alleged misuse of P172 million worth of PDAF funds.
The PDAF scam was first exposed in 2013 after it was revealed that lawmakers were funneling funds into fake nongovernment organizations run by Napoles. Then-Ombudsman Conchita Morales filed plunder and graft cases against Enrile.
While Enrile was arrested, he was granted his request for a hospital arrest. He was eventually able to post bail in 2015.
Enrile sought to have the charges against him dismissed multiple times, but the trial pushed through with the plunder cases. He would eventually return to the executive branch as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s legal counsel.
Ten years after the cases were first filed, Enrile was acquitted of plunder after the prosecution reportedly failed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
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