Senator Juan Ponce Enrile. PHOTO BY RICHARD A. REYES
MANILA, Philippines – After almost two weeks of deliberations, the Sandiganbayan third division has yet to find probable cause to hold Senator Juan Ponce Enrile on trial for his alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam.
During a hearing on Friday, Associate Justice Alex Quiroz said the division was taking its cue from Associate Justice Samuel Martires who vowed to read all the 9,000 pages of documentary evidence against Enrile.
“Up to this day, we have no resolution on judicial determination of probable cause,” Quiroz said Friday during a hearing where Enrile’s co-accused, Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes, presented her motion to suspend proceedings.
“As been promised by one of the Justices, we have to read all 9,000 pages,” Quiroz said in court.
The division first heard Enrile’s motion for probable cause on June 20, when coincidentally Enrile’s co-accused for plunder Ramon Revilla Jr. was ordered arrested. That day, Associate Justice Martires said he would take more time deciding on Enrile’s motion for judicial determination of probable cause, vowing not to be pressured by public opinion.
“I will not yield to public pressure or opinion… I do not hear opinions that are baseless. I will not care what lawyers and the media will say,” Martires had said.
“I personally promise that I am going to read nine thousand pages (of the case),” he added.
The third division court’s judicial determination on probable cause against Enrile is the only resolution left to complete the cast. The first and fifth divisions found probable cause to detain Senators Revilla and Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada for plunder. Estrada and Revilla have surrendered and are now detained.
A reliable source told INQUIRER.net that Martires had finished reading the 9,000 pages of evidence against Enrile.
The division hearing Enrile’s case is chaired by Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang.
The Ombudsman, in indicting Enrile, said the former senate president and 90-year-old veteran lawmaker and his cohorts amassed P172.834 million in kickbacks from 2003 to 2010 from the alleged illegal disbursement of his Priority Development Assistance Funds or pork barrel.
Enrile faces one count of plunder and 15 counts of graft.
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