Senator Bong Revilla Jr. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — “The truth prevailed,” the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) had this to say Wednesday after the Sandiganbayan junked all pork-barrel cases against Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.
Pangasinan Rep. Christopher De Venecia, Lakas-CMD’s spokesperson, said that the Sandiganbayan decision “is a step in the right direction towards restoring faith and confidence in our country’s judicial system.”
“The recent Sandiganbayan decision has just proven right what the entire Lakas-CMD family believes all along – that our party chairman, Senator Bong Revilla is innocent of all trumped-up charges leveled against him,” De Venecia said in the party statement.
“In the end, the truth prevailed,” he added.
In a decision released publicly Tuesday, the Sandiganbayan’s Special First Division, in a narrow 3-2 vote, acquitted Revilla of 16 counts of graft over his alleged involvement in the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam that was exposed in 2013.
This cleared Revilla of all his remaining criminal cases in connection with the pork barrel scam since the senator was also acquitted of plunder charges over the same scam back in 2018.