SC affirms order granting Enrile bill of particulars on plunder charges

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court (SC) upheld its earlier decision granting Senator Juan Ponce Enrile’s motion to be provided with a bill of particulars detailing the plunder charges against him in relation to the pork barrel scam.

In its en banc session on Tuesday, April 12, the SC denied the motion for reconsideration that sought the reversal of its August 2015 decision.

In August last year, the SC ordered the Ombudsman to provide Enrile with specific details of the plunder charges filed against him, after the senator sought the annulment of the July 2014 resolution of anti-graft court Sandiganbayan denying his motion for a bill of particulars.

Enrile faces plunder and graft charges over the multi-million peso pork barrel scam.

The SC required the bill of particulars to contain the following information:

1. The particular overt acts alleged to constitute the “combination or series of overt criminal acts”
2. A breakdown of the amounts of commissions allegedly received, stating how the amount of P172,834,500 was arrived at. 
3. A description of the “identified” projects where kickbacks were received
4. The approximate dates of receipt, “in 2004 to 2010 or thereabout,” of the alleged kickbacks from the identified projects
5. Names of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) allegedly controlled by Janet Lim-Napoles, which were the alleged “recipients and/or target implementors” of Enrile’s pork barrel projects
6. The government agencies where Enrile allegedly endorsed Napoles’ NGOs

Enrile, along with detaied senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr, are accused of channeling development funds to the fake NGOs allegedly controlled by Janet Lim-Napoles. 

The 92-year-old Enrile was freed on bail last year. The two other senators remain detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame. – Rappler.com