Ex-SolGen Mendoza: Plunder law needs to be amended

Former Solicitor General Estelito Mendoza on Friday said there was a need to amend the plunder law in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision acquitting his client former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

In a press briefing at his law office in Makati City, the lead counsel of Arroyo in her petition to dismiss her plunder charge over misuse of state lottery funds said the plunder law, or Republic Act No. 7080, was structured to make it difficult to understand.

He said the law had to be clarified “to make it simple and understandable.”

“I think the law has to be clarified. Ito masyadong maraming trabaho binibigay sa abogado,” Mendoza said in an interview.

Mendoza said because of the difficulty of language and structure in the law, commoners might be constrained in following a law that they didn’t understand.

“It is very difficult to understand, the plunder law, if you read it. It says section 2, and then it refers to section 1. It must be in a straightforward way that an ordinary person will have no problem in understanding,” Mendoza said.

“Theoretically, every person is supposed to know the law. How can you follow if you don’t understand it?” he added.

The plunder law is being used to detain high-profile officials for allegedly amassing through conspiracy and overt acts at least P50 million ill-gotten wealth.

Plunder is a nonbailable offense punishable with life imprisonment.

Section 2 of RA 7080 defines plunder as any public officer who, by himself or herself or in connivance with members of his or her family, relatives by affinity or consanguinity, business associates, subordinates or other persons, amasses, accumulates or acquires ill-gotten wealth in the amount of at least P50 million.

Other personalities detained for plunder are former Senators Ramon Revilla Jr. and Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, who are accused of accumulating millions of kickbacks from their pork barrel funds. They are detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center.

Mendoza also represented former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile in the Supreme Court which granted his petition for bail from plunder over the pork barrel scam.

READ: Enrile out on bail, says his faith in justness of judiciary vindicated

Mendoza said the offense of plunder also needed to be refined, because some offenses categorized as such could also be construed as a lesser offense, like bribery.

“That is not the problem with the law, the problem with the law is the offense. Sa akin eh, bakit hindi na lang ganyan, bribery lang yan. Karamihan ng plunder cases bribery lang,” Mendoza said.

“Ang totoo lang bakit mo ba inaakushan, dahil tumanggap ng pera. Bakit hindi bribery na lang i-charge?” he added.

Mendoza lamented that the plunder charge was being used to immediately detain accused officials even though the evidence was not sufficient to convict them of the heinous crime.

“What saddens me is that sometimes the purpose of charging plunder is the evidence is inadequate in order to arrest and imprison the accused,” he said.

Mendoza cited the case of her client former President Macapagal-Arroyo, who was detained for plunder for four years on allegation that she diverted P366 million in intelligence funds from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office for personal gain from 2008 to 2010.

READ: Arroyo OK on fund release not ‘overt act’ of plunder– SC

The Supreme Court granted Arroyo’s petition to dismiss the case due to “insufficiency of evidence,” saying her mere approval of the fund releases did not constitute an “overt act” to participate in a conspiracy to raid the public treasury.

Mendoza said the plunder law was too restrictive in detaining the accused for the nonbailable offense.

“Katulad niyan, apat na taon, I will be frank. Masyadong restrictive sa imprisonment. Hindi pa naman convicted,” Mendoza said.

Mendoza has been known to defend high-profile clients such as former Presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada, who have also been accused of corruption.

Upon being served the release order by the Sandiganbayan, Arroyo walked free after four years in detention at Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City on Thursday around 6:30 p.m. With Kathryn Jedi V. Baylon, trainee

READ: Arroyo walks free after 4 yrs of hospital detention