Enrile on plunder case: Gov’t lucky if it can show ‘credible evidence’

MANILA, Philippines — Former Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile said on Saturday that the government would be lucky if its lawyers can any credible evidence of his alleged connection to the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam masterminded by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, who had been convicted of plunder because of it.

“I do not want to discuss my case, but all I can say is the government will be lucky if they present any credible evidence,” Enrile said at the Saturday Forum at Annabel’s Restaurant in Quezon City on Saturday.

Enrile was referring to the P172.83-million plunder case filed against him in connection pork barrel scam.

He was accused of amassing P172.83 million in “commissions” from 2003 to 2010 in collaboration with Napoles, along with Enrile’s former chief of staff, Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes, and her driver-bodyguard John Raymund de Asis.

Aside from Enrile, former senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. were also charged with plunder and multiple counts of graft in relation with the pork barrel scam.

READ: WHAT WENT BEFORE: Napoles and the pork barrel scam

Asked if the case had any “legal impediment” on his Senate bid for the May 2019 polls, he said he would leave his lawyers to handle the case.

“It is my right to attend the hearing or not attend the hearing. I leave it to my lawyers to handle it,” he said. /atm

Former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile talks about his comeback bid to the upper chamber during the Saturday Forum at Annabel’s Restaurant in Quezon City. (Photo from an INQUIRER.net video)