Revilla questions raps; arraignment deferred
Citing lack of due process, former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. on Friday moved to throw out the malversation case against him in connection with an alleged P92 million “ghost” flood control project in Bulacan.
The motion to quash was filed by Revilla’s lawyers during his scheduled arraignment in the Third Division of the Sandiganbayan where he and his six codefendants, all from the Bulacan office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), had been charged.
Revilla and the six others are facing a separate graft case also linked to the alleged ghost project located in Bulacan’s Pandi town.
Associate Justice Karl Miranda, chair of the court’s Third Division, read the motion prepared by the former senator’s lawyer, Reody Anthony Balisi, who argued that the “factual allegations [against Revilla] do not constitute the offense charged.”
Balisi said Revilla was “not the accountable officer for purposes of malversation” since he had no custody or control of public funds used for the Pandi project.
Motion granted
Pending resolution by the court of Revilla’s motion to quash, the Third Division granted the motion to postpone the arraignment of the senator.
Speaking to reporters after Friday’s aborted arraignment, Balisi said that Revilla and his lawyers received a copy of the “thick” document containing the charges against his client only on Thursday, nearly a week after the case against the former senator and the others was filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in the Sandiganbayan on Jan. 19.
“Just to clarify the due process arguments … factually speaking—just to clarify only—that our client did not receive the copy of the thick complaint,” he said. “All that we had received was the motion to add additional respondents and additional evidence.”
“To us, it is one of the arguments that we have raised. It’s there in the court, it’s in our pleadings and we are bound by the sub judice rule,” Balisi added in explaining his refusal to elaborate.
They obtained the Ombudsman’s resolution stating probable cause to charge Revilla and the others with graft and malversation just a day before the scheduled arraignment, he said.
“I will leave it at that. It’s the procedure we’re only allowed to say and we are not going into the merits,” Balisi said.
Pandi project
After the charges were filed in the Sandiganbayan on Friday last week, Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano told reporters that the former senator and his coaccused conspired to release at least P76 million as payment for the flood control project in Purok V, Barangay Bunsuran in Pandi, Bulacan.
“Thereafter, to facilitate the release of the entire project cost, the respondents are found to have falsified accomplishment reports, issued fraudulent billing documents and endorsed disbursement vouchers,” he said.
Clavano said that an inspection revealed that the project was never implemented but was reported to have been “completed” to allow the release of the money.
Revilla’s codefendants in the malversation and graft case, which was raffled off to the Fourth Division, are engineers Brice Hernandez, Jaypee Mendoza, Arjay Domasig and Emelita Juat, accountant Juanito Mendoza and cashier Christina Pineda.
Transfer sought
Mendoza also asked the court to defer the arraignment pending resolution of his own motion to quash. Juat, the lone accused who pleaded not guilty to the graft charge in the Fourth Division, asked the Sandiganbayan to detain her at the Bulacan provincial jail for family reasons.
Revilla and the rest are being held at New Quezon City Jail in Payatas.
In addition to his motions to quash and defer arraignment, Revilla also asked the Sandiganbayan to move his detention to the Custodial Center of the Philippine National Police in Camp Crame for security reasons.
Acting on this motion, Miranda and the two other members of the Third Division inspected the Payatas jail on Friday afternoon but did not immediately announce any decision.
The Third Division deemed the motions submitted for resolution and gave the Ombudsman prosecutors until Jan. 28 to submit their comments. The same motions were filed with the Fourth Division, which also deferred the arraignment and pretrial pending their resolution.
Revilla surrendered to the PNP at Camp Crame late on Monday night after the courts issued warrants for his arrest.
The next day, he paid a P90,000 bail bond for the graft charges. The malversation case is nonbailable as the alleged amounts of public funds that were lost exceeded the P8.8-million threshold for bail.
Past graft cases
Revilla is no stranger to allegations of corruption involving millions of pesos in public funds.
He was arrested in June 2014 along with the late Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada in connection with a plunder case stemming from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel scam.
Revilla remained in detention at the PNP Custodial Center until his acquittal and release on Dec. 7, 2018.
He was also accused of 16 counts of graft for allegedly amassing P224.5 million in pork barrel kickbacks from businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, the biggest amount among the three senators.
In its decision to acquit Revilla of the plunder charge, the Sandiganbayan cited the “failure of the prosecution to establish beyond reasonable doubt” that he received, directly or indirectly, kickbacks from his pork barrel.
His legislative officer, Richard Cambe, and Napoles, however, were convicted, and sentenced to reclusion perpetua, or imprisonment of up to 40 years.
The decision also noted that the accused “are held solidarily and jointly liable” to return P124.5 million to the national treasury.
In January 2019, the Office of the Ombudsman filed a motion to seek the return of the P124.5 million as part of Revilla’s civil liability.
His lawyers said that he was no longer liable to pay, but several of the country’s legal experts believe that Revilla has a responsibility to pay damages because the PDAF was not his own money.
Revilla was acquitted of the graft charges in July 2021. He has not returned the money to this day. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
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