OH NO! Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo M. Cabotaje-Tang reacts after drawing the plunder and graft cases of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile during the raffle of the cases against the 38 indictees on Friday. The cases of Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla went to other divisions. Justice Cabotaje-Tang is flanked by Justices Oscar C. Herrera Jr., (left) Second Division associate justice, and Roland B. Jurado, Fifth Division. RAFFY LERMA
Within an hour of their plunder and graft cases being assigned to three divisions of the Sandiganbayan on Friday, Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. filed petitions asking the antigraft court to dismiss them.
The 90-year-old Enrile filed a 54-page petition arguing insufficient evidence against him, at the same time asking that he be granted bail should the trial proceed.
Plunder is a nonbailable offense.
To support his request for bail, Enrile cited his age and provided the Sandiganbayan with a litany of his various ailments through three medical certificates, all dated May 6, 2014, issued by his cardiologist, ophthalmologist and nephrologist who said the senator needed “frequent, regular monitoring and checkup.”
What’s next
Malacañang said the raffling off of the cases was the next logical step following the indictment of the respondents.
“The raffle is just a step in the entire process. It does not end there, neither does it determine anything. The determination happens during the trial,” said deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte.
A professional PNP
Interior Secretary Mar Roxas on Friday said the Philippine National Police (PNP) will discharge its duties “professionally” when the order is handed down to arrest the three senators.
Once the courts order the arrest of Enrile, Estrada, Revilla and their coaccused, then arrest warrants will be served by the PNP.
“The PNP will act and perform professionally. This is not a time to embarrass anyone. This is not the time to strip anyone of their dignity,” Roxas said at a press conference at Camp Crame.
“The point here would be the institution’s credibility… The PNP will follow whatever the court directs it to do,” he said.
Petitions from indictees
Estrada filed a 37-page petition asking the special court to dismiss the case against him for lack of probable cause.
Revilla followed up the petition he filed last Tuesday wherein he asked the court to immediately set a date to hear his petition to dismiss the case. In the supplemental three-page petition he filed on Friday, Revilla asked that the hearing be set for next week, on June 19.
Enrile’s former chief of staff, Jessica “Gigi” Reyes, and Revilla’s chief of staff, Richard Cambe, also quickly filed petitions on Friday.
Reyes asked the Sandiganbayan to suspend acting on her case, including issuing an arrest warrant, asking the court to wait for the Supreme Court to act on her petition for a restraining order against the Ombudsman.
Cambe asked the antigraft court in a 50-page petition to suspend the proceedings until it has produced the complete records of the Ombudsman’s preliminary investigation, and also asked the court to determine probable cause first.
Expecting a ‘fair trial’
Estrada and Revilla on Friday said they expected a “fair trial” from the Sandiganbayan justices who will hear their cases, even though the justices may have been appointed by President Aquino.
“I hope and pray that the Sandiganbayan will dispose fair justice. They should be fair. In fair play, I think I will be acquitted of all the charges,” Estrada said in a phone-patch interview with reporters.
“Whether or not they have a debt of gratitude to P-Noy, I think they should exercise fair play,” he added.
Revilla, through his lawyer Joel Bodegon, also said he expected to get a fair trial.
“If we can’t expect a fair trial in the courts, we may just as well give up the practice of law,” Bodegon told reporters, also in a phone-patch interview.
Bodegon said they were not concerned that an Aquino appointee would be handling Revilla’s case.
“We, lawyers, rely on the strength of our own case, the evidence that we have, and the strength of our faith in the judicial system. Besides, in the course of a trial, if we find something irregular or improper, we have remedies available,” he said.
Enrile’s staff said he would not be issuing a statement.
Will not evade arrest
Estrada and Revilla reiterated that they would not evade arrest. Estrada assured the public that he would surrender once the arrest warrant is issued.
Bodegon said they expected the antigraft court to rule first on their motions for the determination of probable cause and suspension of proceedings before deciding whether to issue an arrest warrant against his client.
“We have faith in the Sandiganbayan, that they would not be hasty in acting on the matter. They have 10 days under the rules to consider whether to issue a warrant. Add to the situation the fact that we have filed motions,” he said.
“When a motion is filed in court, the court is minded to consider it,” he said.
The Sandiganbayan raffled off the cases of Enrile, Estrada and Revilla to specific divisions, which will then issue the order to arrest them once they determine probable cause.
History of special divisions
Estrada welcomed the Supreme Court order to the Sandiganbayan to raffle off their cases.
“In special divisions, the justices will be handpicked. Even if you look at history, all special divisions convict the accused, from Yamashita’s time to Ninoy’s time to my father’s time,” he said.
Ousted President Joseph Estrada was convicted by the Sandiganbayan for plunder in 2007, but was pardoned almost immediately after by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
How to discharge duties
Roxas said it would also be up to the court to decide how the three senators can discharge their duties as lawmakers while in detention.
Laptops and other electronic and communication devices are not allowed inside police custodial centers as a matter of security.
Roxas said the PNP rules will also be applied to all detainees at the custodial center, including visitation rights.
He added that the rooms at the PNP custodial center do not have airconditioning. With Nikko Dizon
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