Senator Juan Ponce Enrile refused to enter a plea for his plunder charges before the Sandiganbayan on Friday. The court entered a not-guilty plea for the 90-year-old lawmaker. Marc Jayson Cayabyab/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines–Senator Juan Ponce Enrile arrived at the Sandiganbayan on Friday to attend his arraignment for his plunder charges over the pork barrel scam.
The 90-year-old senator arrived at the anti-graft court in an ambulance around 7:30 a.m.
Earlier Enrile requested the third division of the Sandiganbayan to defer his arraignment but his request was denied.
On Thursday, he was examined by doctors of the Philippine General Hospital to determine his health condition.
PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac said the 90-year-old senator had been declared fit to appear before the antigraft court after doctors had declared his health condition was stable.
A report said Enrile’s blood pressure is at 140/60.
Meanwhile, Enrile’s former chief of staff Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes failed to secure her doctor’s permission to attend her arraignment. Reyes has been confined at the Taguig Pateros District Hospital since early Thursday morning after suffering from a “panic attack” arising from being with suspected female members of the communist New People’s Army in her detention dormitory in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig.
Another co-accused Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged brains of the P10-bilion pork barrel scam, meanwhile, arrived at the Sandiganbayan ahead of Enrile. With reports from Nestor Corrales and Tetch Torres-Tupas, INQUIRER.net
Originally posted: 8:21 am | Friday, July 11th, 2014
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