LAWYER Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes has asked the Sandiganbayan to cancel her pre-trial for plunder over the pork barrel scam, just like what it did in the case of principal accused Senator Juan Ponce Enrile.
In her motion for partial reconsideration filed before the antigraft court Third Division, Reyes, Enrile’s chief of staff, questioned why the court denied her motion to cancel her pre-trial but granted Enrile’s motion to reset the pre-trial following the Supreme Court decision granting Enrile’s bill of particulars.
Reyes said her and Enrile’s motions were based on the same grounds that the Sandiganbayan should wait until the Ombudsman’s prosecutors comply with the Supreme Court directive to provide Enrile with the particular set of information in his plunder case to help him prepare for trial.
The high court would later grant the 91-year-old Enrile bail due to humanitarian considerations. Enrile had been placed under hospital detention before he was granted bail.
Reyes said it would do an injustice to her if Enrile was allowed to better prepare for trial while she is not allowed to do the same.
She said since the Supreme Court allowed Enrile a bill of particulars, she should also be allowed to benefit by likewise having her plunder pretrial canceled.
Reyes said she is placed in an even more precarious situation because while the prosecution has admitted that it has no direct evidence pinning Enrile to the scam, it has pointed at Reyes as the one who received Enrile’s share in the kickbacks.
Because the bill of particulars refer to Enrile’s alleged acts through Reyes, “it is accused Reyes who will stand to suffer the most from the prosecution’s generalized and shotgun approach, if the instant case is allowed to proceed under the vague, ambiguous and insufficient information.”
“Without the bill of particulars, accused Reyes cannot know precisely what particular overt acts or transactions are attributed to her as to enable her to intelligently prepare for her defense…” her motion said.
While Enrile was granted bail, Reyes is detained at the female dormitory of the Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig pending her trial.
Witness Ruby Tuason has named Reyes as the one she met to deliver Enrile’s alleged cut from the scam, the purported scheme of pillaging lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) to ghost projects for kickbacks.
Businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles stands accused for plunder for allegedly forming the bogus foundations to implement the ghost projects in exchange for commissions.