Best revenge: Santiago urges Gigi Reyes to turn state witness

MANILA, Philippines—Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and his wife, Cristina, are painting Enrile’s former chief of staff Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes as the “stand-alone” culprit in the P10-billion pork barrel scam, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said on Thursday.

The “best revenge” then for Reyes is to fly home to Manila and turn state witness against Enrile, her fellow suspect in a plunder complaint in the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the scam, Santiago said.

“This couple, the Enriles, are trying to make Gigi Reyes a stand-alone culprit for all the kickbacks that he received under the pork barrel schedule,” Santiago said while quizzing witness Dennis Cunanan at the continuation of the Senate probe of the scam.

In a recent TV interview, the senator observed that Enrile had managed to steer clear of the scam by letting Reyes handle pork barrel transactions and his wife vouching for this and saying that he did not steal any money.

It now appeared that Enrile’s camp was engaged in a “lurid scheme” for Reyes “to take the criminal blame not only for his plunder but also for his moral turpitude in the sense of sexual addiction openly displayed as a public official,” Santiago said.

The senator, who had tangled with Enrile over the release of different amounts of Christmas bonus to senators in December 2012, said she had known Reyes to be a genial person.

“For me, as a humble friend of this young woman, Attorney Gigi Reyes, whom I knew because I was a trial judge when she was a law student in UP… her professor in procedure told the class to observe my proceedings in my courtroom. That’s how I got to know her. And throughout her entire length of duty in the Senate, she never showed me anything but a pleasant and accommodating disposition,” she said.

Being dropped

“And so I grieve as a neighbor and as a friend of Attorney Gigi Reyes that she’s now being–in Tagalog, hinuhulog [or being dropped]. She’s the only one at fault,” she added.

And using Cunanan’s testimony as a reference, Santiago said Reyes was again being tagged as the key person who signed documents for Enrile.

Yet, Santiago said she doubted that Reyes got into this on her own because she believed Enrile used Reyes as “front.”

‘Best revenge’

Then she dispensed this advice:

“I think that the best revenge for Attorney Gigi since I know she will watch this on YouTube is: ‘Attorney Gigi, return the money that Enrile stole because I’m sure that Attorney Gigi is in charge of the safekeeping of these illegitimate funds that need to be laundered abroad, and turn the tables on Enrile by coming home and turning into state witness,” Santiago said.

In his testimony, Cunanan said he often dealt with Reyes in the release of the senator’s pork barrel to preselected nongovernment organizations. He, however, said it was hard to believe that Enrile wasn’t aware of the transactions.

Cunanan also said Enrile authenticated the documents signed by his staff when state auditors made verifications.

Conspiracy

Santiago could not help but compare Cunanan’s testimony with that of previous witness, socialite Ruby Tuason, who testified that she delivered kickbacks to Reyes in restaurants and that there were instances when Enrile would show up to pick up Reyes or to have coffee.

While Enrile appeared to have steered clear of such transactions, Santiago said he could not escape liability in the conspiracy to commit plunder.

“The guilt of one is the guilt of all,” she said, further pointing out Enrile did not stop any of the transactions.

She said the Supreme Court had ruled that if a person, who was part of a conspiracy, claimed that he was not a conspirator then he should at least prove that he tried to prevent the crime.

Enrile declined comment. He earlier said he would not discuss matters pertaining to the plunder complaint.

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