Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Senator Ramon Revilla Jr. on Friday filed a petition for bail before the Sandiganbayan first division for his plunder case, a non-bailable offense.
“Revilla respectfully moves ad abundandantia cautelam to be allowed to post bail in accordance to Section 13, Article III of the Constitution, which entitles him to bail as a matter of right even in non-bailable offenses where the evidence of guilt, as in this case, for plunder against him is not strong,” the petition read.
This after the senator voluntarily surrendered to the Sandiganbayan following the issuance of the warrant of arrest against him.
In his 24-page petition, Revilla through his counsel Joel Bodegon, also said the evidence against him was weak.
Bodegon said there was nothing in the case that showed that Revilla amassed ill-gotten wealth.
He said Revilla’s only participation in the disbursement of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF)was limited to project identification, saying the implementation of the projects was already with the implementing agencies.
“Truly, apart from the bare allegations of the self-styled “whistleblowers” and the other respondents during the preliminary investigation, the only link of Senator Revilla to the alleged PDAF scam are the endorsement letters purportedly signed by him,” the petition stated.
The petition noted that handwriting experts confirmed that the signature of the senator in the documents have been falsified.
“In connection therewith, Senator Revilla obviously did not commit any raid on the public treasury. He did not and could not do so as he never had the control over his PDAF allocation,” it further said.
The petition also said that there was no direct evidence showing that Revilla actually received at least P50million as kickbacks.
“There is only a hasty conclusion that he received kickbacks through his Chief of Staff Atty. Cambe, whom he supposed to have authorized to represent him in dealing with the implementing agencies through the alleged endorsement letters,” it said.
Revilla is currently at the Sheriff’s Office waiting for a commitment order from the court.
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