Revilla co-accused proposes 3 special courts

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The former chief of staff and co-accused of Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. in the plunder and graft cases arising from the pork barrel scam is in favor of creating not two special divisions of the Sandiganbayan but three special divisions to make sure that the case will be resolved within six months.

Lawyer Richard Cambe in his comment to Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales’ proposal to create two special divisions of the Sandiganbayan to exclusively handle the case said three special divisions would be best.

Cambe said each special division would be “assigned to consolidate and hear all cases of one specific group of alleged conspirators (e.g. one special division to hear only the cases against Senator Revilla Jr. and his alleged conspirators).”

He also proposes a marathon or daily hearing that would be extended up to 5 in the afternoon. He also proposes that each special division would limit the number of witnesses and disallow postponements.

Cambe proposes that all other necessary measures be adopted to ensure the speedy disposition of the cases within six months.

The Sandiganbayan has opposed the creation of special divisions, saying this will be unfair for the accused in PDAF cases and other “equally important” cases being handled by the justices.

The high court has yet to decide on the Ombudsman’s request saying they still have to wait for the comment of other parties.

Cambe allegedly acted on behalf of Revilla in the transactions involving the diversion of the lawmaker’s pork barrel to businesswoman Janet Napoles’ fake non-government organizations (NGOs) that carried out ghost projects.

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