Ombudsman to present 56 witnesses in graft case vs Revilla
A total of 56 prosecution witnesses are expected to testify against former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and his six coaccused, who are facing graft charges before the Sandiganbayan’s Fourth Division in connection with an alleged “ghost” flood control project in Pandi, Bulacan.
“We are ready with the witnesses,” Christina Marallag-Batacan, acting director of the Ombudsman’s prosecution bureau, said in an ambush interview on Thursday after the pretrial hearing for the case.
She said that their team is “very confident in our interviews with our witnesses.” Although the large number could lead to a longer trial, there were remedies to address this, she added.
“We said that even if there are 56 witnesses, it would still depend on each person’s testimony,” Marallag-Batacan said. “Some of it may only be corroborative, so we might dispense of the others, so our trial days could be shortened.”
Revilla’s lawyer Francesca Señga, for his part, said that they will face the 56 witnesses.
The senator’s camp said in their pretrial brief that they might be presenting 14 witnesses, although Señga declined to identify them.
The trial proper will start on April 7. The Ombudsman filed the case against Revilla and his coaccused in January over the P92.8-million flood control project that was reported as completed. An inspection showed, however, that it was never implemented.
