Sandiganbayan lets Enrile challenge prosecution evidence in plunder case

Presidential Legal Counsel and former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile (File photo from Senate PRIB / Bibo Nueva España)

MANILA, Philippines — Sandiganbayan has allowed former Senate president and now Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile to challenge the evidence presented against him in the plunder case that stemmed from his alleged pork barrel scam involvement.

In a resolution dated September 18, Sandiganbayan’s Third Division granted Enrile camp’s motion to file a demurrer (objection) to evidence, which basically questions the prosecution’s evidence in the case.

Enrile was given ten days upon receipt of the resolution’s copy to submit the demurrer.

After the submission, the anti-graft court will decide if Enrile’s objection has merit.

If it sides with Enrile, then the case against him will be deemed dismissed for insufficiency of evidence.

If the demurrer is junked, then, the court will continue hearing the case.

The same Sandiganbayan division, however, denied the motion to file a demurrer to evidence by Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes — Enrile’s former chief of staff — for lack of merit.

Enrile is accused of pocketing P172.8 million worth of kickbacks for allegedly allocating his pork barrel or Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to bogus non-government organizations owned by convicted scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles.

READ: Sandiganbayan to resume Enrile’s plunder case trial on Oct. 16 

READ: Sandiganbayan orders prosecution to produce evidence vs Enrile 

Napoles is currently jailed at the Correctional Institute for Women after she was found guilty in a separate plunder case, this time involving Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., who was acquitted.

READ: Bong Revilla acquitted of plunder

Enrile, Revilla, and Senator Jinggoy Estrada were three of the senators who faced plunder and graft charges for the pork barrel scam.

The cases were unearthed when whistleblower Benhur Luy complained that his cousin Napoles was illegally detaining him.

APL