SC asks Sandigan to comment on Gigi Reyes petition

Gigi Reyes. POOL PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Supreme Court has ordered the Sandiganbayan to comment on the petition of Gigi Reyes seeking to stop antigraft court proceedings against her in connection with the pork barrel scam.

In a July 22 en banc resolution released yesterday, the high court gave the Sandiganbayan Third Division 10 days to respond to Reyes’ July 18 plea for certiorari and prohibition, in which she claimed that the plunder and graft charges against her lacked probable cause.

The high court consolidated Reyes’ plea against the Sandiganbayan with the petition that she earlier filed against the Ombudsman in connection with the same charges.

Reyes had asked the high court “to nullify and set aside, for having been issued with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack of or in excess of jurisdiction, resolutions of the Sandiganbayan Third Division… for absence of probable cause.”

These include the Sandiganbayan Third Division’s resolutions on July 3 and 4, which adopted the Ombudsman’s indictment of Reyes for plunder and 15 counts of violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act No. 3019).

Reyes’ petition also sought a temporary restraining order or a preliminary writ of injunction “to enjoin the respondent Sandiganbayan Third Division from proceeding with the case and from continuing with the detention of petitioner.”

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