No need for Revilla to surrender to Sandigan – spokesperson

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Ramon Revilla Jr. need not surrender to the Sandiganbayan as the anti-graft court is readying his arrest warrant for his plunder charges over the pork barrel scam, an official said Thursday.

Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Atty. Renato Bocar, the anti-graft’s executive clerk of court, said it may be unnecessary for Revilla to surrender to Sandiganbayan especially since he has said he would make a voluntary surrender to the police.

“He doesn’t need to go here to the Sandiganbayan. It’s not necessary,” said Bocar, who is spokesperson of the Sandiganbayan.

He added that Revilla may go to the police for the processing of his mugshots, fingerprints, among others.

But should Revilla surrender to the Sandiganbayan first thing tomorrow (Friday), Bocar said they would accompany him to the police.

Bocar made the statement after Revilla’s counsel called the Sandiganbayan first division to say Revilla would “surrender” to the court.

On Thursday, the division hearing Revilla’s case found probable cause to issue a warrant of arrest against Revilla and his other co-accused for their alleged involvement in the scam.

But the division deferred the issuance on Friday pending the signature of division chair Associate Justice Efren Dela Cruz.

The Ombudsman in indicting the lawmaker said the movie actor-turned-senator collected P224.512 million kickbacks from 2006 to 2010 from the alleged illegal disbursement of his Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF).

Revilla faces one count of plunder and 16 counts of graft.

Also charged are Senator Juan Ponce Enrile Ramon Revilla Jr., as well as alleged mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, who skimmed the money from government allocations for the poor.

The pork barrel scam is an elaborate scheme of allegedly diverting billions of public funds to ghost projects for kickbacks.

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