Delayed trial irks justices in Bong Revilla’s plunder case

Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The slow wheels of justice are starting to get in the nerves of the Sandiganbayan magistrates.

The plunder trial of detained former senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. was cancelled for the fifth time on Thursday, rousing the ire of the Sandiganbayan justices who scored the parties for failing to finish the marking and comparison of documentary exhibits.

Lead prosecutor Joefferson Toribio said both parties have yet to compare the exhibits, noting that some of the special allotment release orders (SARO) have still to be delivered to Manila from Region XIII.

Associate Justice Geraldine Faith Econg took note of Toribio’s justification and dared him to swear on his lawyer’s oath that the marking would be finished once and for all.

“That’s your undertaking on your lawyer’s oath that you’ll finish. We will no longer hear that the documents are in Region XIII ha,” Econg said.

READ: Court denies Bong Revilla’s bid to quash plunder rap

For a few minutes, the lawyers and the clerk of court were stumped as to when to set the additional preliminary conferences to mark and compare the documentary exhibits, especially due to limited time before the court goes on a team building activity in the first week of May.

In the end, division chairperson Associate Justice Efren Dela Cruz said the next hearings would be cancelled to allow the parties to finish the marking, and set the next  hearing on June 1.

Dela Cruz gave a warning to both parties that this would be their last chance to “finally, once and for all, complete the pre-marking and comparison of exhibits” in April and May.

Justice Econg warned the parties that the anti-graft court could get scolded already by the “court upstairs,” referring to the Supreme Court, which ordered the Sandiganbayan to proceed with Revilla’s trial immediately after the denial of Revilla’s petition.

READ: Proceed with Bong Revilla trial, SC orders Sandigan 

“Ang problema, this case has been more than a year of pre-trial. Baka kami na naman papagalitan ng court upstairs, why is the pre-trial too protracted (The problem is, this case has had more than a year of pre-trial. We might get scolded by the court upstairs, why this pre-trial is too protracted),”  Econg said, noting that Republic Act 8493 or the Speedy Trial Act limits the trial period to 180 days only.

The court set the following dates as additional days for both the prosecution and defense to mark and compare the exhibits – April 21, 27, 28 and May 8 and May 12.

Dela Cruz said the court would subpoena the detained accused for the signing of the pre-trial order on May 25, before the start of trial on June 1.

The court initially set the first date of Revilla’s plunder trial on January 12. But due to various excuses from both parties, the trial has been repeatedly cancelled and reset on Feb. 9, 23, March 30, and April 20.

It has taken over two years for the embattled senator to face his charges in a trial.

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 (PDAF) in the scheme of using the pork barrel fund in ghost projects by alleged mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.

Also detained for plunder is Revilla’s colleague, former senator Jinggoy Estrada, who was denied bail while accused of pocketing P183.7-million kickbacks. The elderly former senator Juan Ponce Enrile, now out on bail for humanitarian reasons, is accused of receiving P172.8-million kickbacks.

Their plunder and graft charges were filed with the Sandiganbayan by the Office of the Special Prosecutor in June 2014. IDL/rga

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