Sandigan defers issuance of arrest warrant vs Revilla

MANILA, Philippines (4th UPDATE) – Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr will go down in history as the first lawmaker to be detained over charges he channeled his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to ghost projects of dubious non-governmental organizations.

On Thursday, June 19, the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan’s 1st division ordered the issuance of an arrest warrant after it found that plunder and graft cases filed against him were fit to stand trial.

The 1st division is chaired by Justice Efren N. dela Cruz with members Rodolfo A. Ponferrada and Rafael R. Lagos. All 3 justices signed the resolution.

Prior to the closing of the Sandiganbayan offices on Thursday, 1st division clerk of court Estella Teresita Rosete already submitted the unsigned arrest warrant to the office of 1st division chairman dela Cruz. The warrant remained unsigned by 4:30 pm when Sandiganbayan offices closed, deferring issuance of the arrest order.

Only the signature of Dela Cruz is needed for the warrant to take effect.

At around 4 pm, staff from the National Bureau of Investigation’s Anti-Organized Crime Division brought a letter to the Sandiganbayan’s 1st division requesting for the arrest warrant, which did not come.

Rosete said protocol does not require her to wait for the warrant to be signed at Dela Cruz’ office. She expects to receive it by Friday, June 20.

The court is mandated by jurisprudence to independently determine probable cause against an accused.

The 1st division’s clerk of court Estella Teresita Rosete said as of 3:40 pm, the Revilla camp had sent word he would head to the Sandiganbayan to personally surrender. This was presumably on the assumption that an arrest warrant would be issued.

In its resolution and concurrent finding of probable cause, the Sandiganbayan denied Revilla’s bid to stop the proceedings on his plunder and graft charges.

The Sandiganbayan 1st division heard oral arguments on his and his co-accused various pleadings Thursday. (READ: Sandigan to decide if PDAF cases fit for trial) 

Prior to the release of the resolution, Revilla’s lawyer Joel Bodegon assured the public his client will not escape prosecution.

“Ang madlang bayan eh walang dapat ikabahala sa possibility na takbuhan itong kaso na ito ni Senator Revilla,” he told reporters after the Sandiganbayan hearing

(The public has nothing to worry about the possibility of Senator Revilla running away from his cases.)

Like Napoles’ children, he insisted that the real wrongdoers in the scam are the state witnesses currently in the custody of the government. (READ: Napoles children slam ‘polluted’ witnesses) 

“Ang may kasalanan dito yung umamin na sila ang nagpeke ng mga dokumento at nagnakaw ng pera,” he said.

(The real people who are at fault are those who admitted they faked documents and stole government money.)

“Wala po ni isang kusing napunta kay Senator Bong Revilla at yan ay sinabi niya from the beginning nung lumabas itong kontrobersiyang ito sa PDAF scam ,” he added.

(Not a single cent went to Senator Bong Revilla, and that is what he already said from the beginning when the PDAF scam broke.) 

The Ombudsman prosecutors successfully assailed Revilla’s bid for suspension of proceedings. They argued that the senator’s charges used documentary evidence other than those Revilla asked to nullify in a lower court. 

In his now denied motion filed, Revilla cited a pending case he filed before the Bacoor Regional Trial Court (RTC) to declare null and void documents that implicated him in the pork barrel scandal. These documents were then used by the Ombudsman to file his cases before the Sandiganbayan.

Revilla said the suspension is warranted as the resolution of the RTC on his pending case would determine whether the Ombudsman’s finding of probable cause against him stands. 

Legal proceedings are currently underway on the cases of Senators Revilla, Juan Ponce Enrile, and Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada in relation to the alleged diversion of their PDAF to bogus projects of dubious non-governmental organizations linked to businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles.

Revilla filed both his motion for judicial determination of probable cause and motion to suspend proceedings on June 7. 

Revilla allegedly pocketed P224 million ($5.1 million*) – the biggest among the 3 senators already charged – in kickbacks for allowing NGOs linked to Napoles to serve on paper as beneficiaries of his PDAF. 

Sandiganbayan executive clerk of court Renato Bocar earlier explained that the division clerk of court would prepare the arrest warrant for the signature of the justices once the finding of probable cause is resolved by the court.

The warrant will then be sent to law enforcement agencies for implementation. These agencies are required to report to the court through a document called “return of warrant” where and when the arrest happened.

The return of warrant also includes where the suspects would be temporarily detained after the arrest. The court can assign or indicate which jail they will be transferred to.

Included in the Sandiganbayan’s finding of probable cause are 32 others. Some of them are the following: Revilla’s former political staff, lawyer Richard Cambe, alleged PDAF scam mastermind Napoles, Napoles’ nephew John Ronald Lim, Napoles’ driver-bodyguard Raymund de Asis, Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos, and former Technology Resource Center director-general Dennis Cunanan.

The Sandiganbayan 1st division is the same division that issued an arrest warrant on the same day it released its resolution approving indictment against former Agriculture Secretary Luis Ramon Lorenzo over charges of graft in late 2013.

The same set of justices issued Lorenzo’s arrest warrant on the same day his case was raffled or assigned to them.  – Rappler.com

*$1 = P43.84