Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – “There is a God after all” was Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s reaction to the Ombudsman’s decision to deny her colleagues’ appeal to dismiss the plunder charges against them.
The three senators facing plunder charges in connection with the “pork barrel are Senators Juan Ponce-Enrile, Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.
Now that the Ombudsman has denied the motions for reconsideration filed by the three senators, Santiago said, the next step is to file the complaints in the Sandiganbayan court.
“Automatically, the filing of the complaints will trigger the issuance of warrants of arrest against the three senators,” she said.
The senator explained that while the law provides that the crime of plunder is non-bailable, this provision has to be reconciled with the provision in the Constitution that all persons have a right to bail.
“The distinction is simple and easy to understand. In law, there is a difference between a right and a privilege. Every person has a right to bail, but if the person is charged with a non-bailable offense, he loses the right,” she said.
“Instead, the law merely gives him a privilege by giving him the chance to show at a mini-trial that evidence of guilty is not strong.”
“If evidence is not strong, he will be granted bail. If evidence is strong, he will be denied bail and will have to stay in a detention cell at the PNP (Philippine National Police) headquarters,” said the senator.
Santiago urged the Sandiganbayan to conduct hearings on the motions for bail by using a summary procedure.
If evidence of guilt is strong, the senator said, the accused should remain in detention to prevent them from fleeing as fugitives from justice, or financing a program of terrorism to distract the public.
“The best proof that one of the accused has used terrorist tactics to sow confusion and fear among the public is the recent obviously manufactured problems raised by the simultaneous release of the lists of pork scammers. Watch out for similar diversionary tactics,” she said.
Santiago though predicted that lawyers of the three indicted senators would run once more to the Supreme Court and even to other forums “to delay the criminal proceedings.”
“Any boasting on the part of the accused is just whistling in the dark. For example, Enrile said that he might represent himself. Everybody knows that a lawyer who represents himself is a fool,” she further said.