In the Know: Pork charges

In April last year, the Office of the Ombudsman, acting on complaints earlier filed by the National Bureau of Investigation, found enough basis to hold Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile and Bong Revilla, businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles and several others criminally liable for plunder and graft in connection with the alleged illegal disbursements of pork barrel funds.

Based on the Ombudsman’s ruling, which came out almost nine months after the Inquirer exposed the P10-billion pork barrel racket, the three senators took undue advantage of their positions to illegally divert their Priority Development Assistance Fund to Napoles’ nongovernment organizations, in exchange for kickbacks amounting to more than P183 million for Estrada, P172 million for Enrile and P242 million for Revilla.

The accused subsequently went to the Supreme Court to seek intervention.

Estrada earlier requested from the Ombudsman copies of documents— including pleadings filed by other respondents and witnesses—that were made as basis for the charges so he would “be apprised of the allegations of the other respondents and be given notice of all the evidence presented.”

This request was denied by the Ombudsman. Estrada called the move a grave abuse of discretion and went to the Supreme Court on May 7 to file the

29-page petition for certiorari to nullify the Ombudsman’s ruling.

The Ombudsman proceeded with the indictment on June 6, charging Estrada, Enrile, Revilla, Napoles and other government officials with plunder in the Sandiganbayan. Plunder is punishable by reclusion perpetua or life and forfeiture of the ill-gotten wealth in favor of the government. It is a nonbailable offense.

Estrada was accused of receiving P183.795 million in commissions from 2004 to 2012 in connivance with Pauline Labayen (Estrada’s deputy chief of staff), Napoles and her driver-bodyguard, John Raymund de Asis.

Days later, multiple counts of graft were also slapped on the three senators, Napoles and other officials of public and private companies for their role in the alleged irregular disbursements of some P1.14 billion in pork barrel allotments from 2004 to 2010.–Ana Roa, Inquirer Research

Sources: Inquirer Archives