THE Sandiganbayan has acquitted former Senate President and current Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile of his remaining graft charges related to the alleged diversion of P172.8 million in public funds linked to the pork barrel scam.
The anti-graft court’s Special Third Division also cleared Enrile’s former chief of staff, Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes, and businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles, the central figure in the controversy, of 15 graft counts during the case’s promulgation on Friday, October 24. The Sandiganbayan concluded that “the prosecution failed to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
According to the decision penned by Special Third Division Chairperson Justice Ronald Moreno, the Sandiganbayan ordered Napoles and several co-accused to jointly pay the government amounts ranging from P8 million to P40 million, with a six percent annual interest from the finality of the decision until full payment, for each count of graft. However, the court ruled that no civil liability would be imposed on Enrile, Reyes, the senator’s former deputy chief of staff, Jose Antonio Evangelista II, and other co-accused.
The Sandiganbayan also noted that the graft cases against several individuals were dismissed due to their deaths, including private individuals Eulogio Dimailig Rodriguez, officials of the defunct National Agribusiness Corporation (NABCOR) Romulo Magahis Relevo, and former director of the National Livelihood and Development Corp. (NLDC) Alexis Gagni Sevidal. Charges against private individual Fernando Balbaira Ramirez were dismissed due to lack of probable cause.
Meanwhile, former Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos has been declared a fugitive. Several other individuals, including former Technology Resource Center (TRC) Director General Antonio Ortiz, private individuals Ronald John Lim, Amparo L. Fernando, Aileen Palama, John Raymund De Asis, Noel V. Macha, and Margarita P. Guadinez, as well as former president NABCOR Alan Alunan Javellana, and NABCOR official Maria Julie Asor Villaralvo-Johnson, have yet to be arraigned and remain at large. Enrile, 101 years old, attended the promulgation via Zoom, appearing frail and confined to a hospital bed. Napoles also attended both hearings virtually.
