Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile during President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s sectoral meeting along with cabinet secretaries at the Malacanang Palace on Tuesday, August 15, 2023. INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
MANILA, Philippines — Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile sees no problem with the Supreme Court’s (SC) move to allow the continuation of the trial for his plunder case, urging the courts to decide on the case already.
In an ambush interview at the Batasang Pambansa complex on Wednesday, Enrile was asked about the SC’s decision allowing the Sandiganbayan to proceed with the plunder trial, with 13 justices voting to dismiss his petition for prohibition of his case.
“Well, let them decide. Until now, they have not decided. Mahigit na 10 taon na ‘yan walang evidence na prine-presenta sa akin,” the former Senate president said.
(It has been 10 years since the case was filed, but no strong evidence has been presented against me.)
“That’s not the only case. I have many cases regarding the coconut levy, and they benefitted from it, but until now, I do not know what happened to my cases,” he added.
Last Monday, it was reported that the SC allowed the continuation of the trial, with two justices not participating in the decision.
“Enrile’s doubts as to the Sandiganbayan’s fealty to the law is no cause of action and his inability to trust in the judicial system does not merit relief,” read the 32-page decision penned by Associate Justice Maria Filomena Singh.
“The Court does not act on the basis of fear, baseless assumptions of bad faith, or conjectures…. [Since] litigants demand fairness from the courts, the judiciary similarly expects fairness from litigants,” it added.
READ: SC allows Enrile’s trial for plunder to proceed
Enrile is one of the three senators charged with plunder for alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam. Senators Ramon “Bong” Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada have been acquitted.
They were accused of pocketing their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) after allocating parts of the funds to pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles’ bogus non-government organizations.
Enrile was accused of pocketing P172 million of his PDAF.
The three senators denied knowing the allocations, claiming that their staffers acted on their behalf.
READ: Sandiganbayan lets Enrile challenge prosecution evidence in plunder case
Enrile was at the House of Representatives’ hearing on illegal activities linked to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogos) on Wednesday to accompany his daughter, Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza) Administrator Katrina Ponce Enrile.
The younger Enrile clarified that there are internet gaming (iGaming) operations in Cagayan economic zone, but it differs from Pogos, which she said was merely a creation of the past administration of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.