Enrile, Revilla, Estrada ordered to answer plunder raps

(From left) Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

MANILA, Philippines—The Office of the Ombudsman Special Panel of Investigators ordered Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon “Bong” Revilla to answer the plunder complaint filed against them regarding the alleged misuse of pork barrel fund.

Enrile and the two other senators as well as Janet Lim-Napoles were given 10 days to submit their counter-affidavit and controverting evidence.

The Ombudsman Panel issued separate Orders dated November 19, 2013 after having evaluated the case and found “enough basis to proceed with the preliminary investigation” of the three (3) separate complaints filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) against Senators Revilla, Estrada, Enrile and their respective sets of respondents-public employees and non-governmental organization (NGO) officers.

Copies of the NBI complaints were attached to the Orders, which have been scheduled to be individually served on the numerous respondents since yesterday, starting with the NBI complaint against Senator Enrile and the two other senators.

Then, the Ombudsman Panel is also poised to issue the next round of “Orders to File Counter-Affidavits” in relation to the five NBI complaints against certain members of the House of Representatives, as well as the related complaints recently filed by the Field Investigation Office (FIO) which were consolidated and assigned to the same Ombudsman Panel.

“Failure to file their Counter-Affidavit(s)/evidence, with proof of service thereof to complainants, within the aforesaid period shall be deemed a waiver of respondents’ right to submit controverting evidence and the preliminary investigation shall proceed accordingly,” the Order stated.

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