Former Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. complained of “unfair” detention on Thursday after his plunder trial over the pork barrel scam was reset again by the Sandiganbayan.
However, the delay was due to Revilla’s own motion to trim the prosecution’s evidence against him.
Revilla attended his trial at the Sandiganbayan flanked by his police escorts only to have his trial reset to March 30, to give time for both parties to settle their issues.
READ: Revilla: ‘Ghost projects’ issue irrelevant to plunder trial
After the hearing, Revilla lamented the delay in his trial.
“Bale two years and nine months na akong nakakulong na walang kasalanan,” Revilla told reporters in an ambush interview. (It’s been two years and nine months that I have been detained without any fault.)
“Paano pagdating ng oras na lumabas na wala ako kasalanan? Unfair naman sakin di ba,” he added. (What if the time comes that I will be released because I have no fault? That would be unfair to me.)
The First Division chair Associate Justice Efren Dela Cruz reset the hearing due to the comments raised by Revilla to trim the prosecution’s evidence against him.
Associate Justice Geraldine Econg scored both parties for always moving for the cancelation of the hearings that unduly delay the trial proper.
READ: On eve of trial, Bong Revilla seeks dismissal of plunder case
“In an event this case will not be quashed, no motion for further cancelation will be entertained,” Econg said.
Econg also appealed to the parties to work overtime during the preliminary conferences to thresh out their issues in the pre-trial order.
“Please be prepared to stay for a long time. When I say be prepared for overtime work, I mean overtime,” Econg said.
“So that once and for all, this stage will he finished,” she added.
The court also canceled the hearing to give time for Revilla to file an appeal in the court’s denial of his motion to quash his plunder information.
Revilla surrendered and was detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in 2014 for plunder for allegedly pocketing P224.5 million in kickbacks from his Priority Development Assistance Fund in the scheme of using the pork barrel fund in ghost projects by mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.
READ: Ahead of trial, Bong Revilla seeks to quash plunder rap
Also detained for plunder is Revilla’s colleague, former senator Jinggoy Estrada, who was denied bail while accused of pocketing P183.7-million in kickbacks. Enrile, now out on bail, is accused of receiving P172.8-million in kickbacks.
Their plunder and graft charges were filed with the Sandiganbayan by the Office of the Special Prosecutor in June 2014. Their trial is underway. CBB