More pork scam players surrender to evade arrest

By: Marc Jayson Cayabyab - 11 years ago

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—More alleged players in the pork barrel scam have taken the initiative to surrender to the Sandiganbayan for graft.

This is just as well, to save them from the embarrassment of being arrested for their charges over the scam, Executive Clerk of Court Renato Bocar said on Tuesday.

“They can always voluntarily surrender and post bail so they would no longer be arrested,” Bocar said in Filipino.

He said once the accused posted bail, the court would notify the arresting officers that they are taken in the court’s custody and that they no longer needed to be arrested.

Those who posted bail on Tuesday are the following:

Ninez Guanizo of National Agribusiness Corp. (Nabcor), four counts in the graft case with Senator Ramon Revilla Jr. – P60,000; five counts in graft with Senator Jinggoy Estrada – P75,000

Rhodora Mendoza of Nabcor, five counts in graft case with Estrada – P75,000; four counts in graft with Revilla, P60,000

Victor Cacal of Nabcor, five counts in graft with Estrada – P75,000; three counts in graft with Revilla – P45,000

Gregoria Buenaventura of the National Livelihood Development Corp. (NLDC), five counts in graft with Estrada – P75,000

Consuelo Espiritu of the Technology Resource Center — one count of graft with Estrada, P30,000

Romulo Relevo, two counts of graft with Estrada, P60,000

Buenaventura, Cacal, Mendoza, and Guanizo were allowed by the anti-graft court to reduce their bail by half.

They are the co-accused in graft of Senators Ramon Revilla Jr., Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada and Juan Ponce Enrile for their alleged involvement in the scam. They were among those ordered arrested after the court issued the arrest warrant against Revilla, Estrada and their co-accused.

Estrada and Revilla surrendered to the court and police after the Sandiganbayan found probable cause to hold them under arrest for the trial of their plunder case.

The Sandiganbayan is hearing the biggest corruption scandal under the current administration, the alleged pillaging of public funds to ghost projects for kickbacks through the bogus foundations of alleged mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.