MANILA, Philippines – Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday, May 23, lamented the acquittal of Janet Lim Napoles in 16 of her pork barrel scam cases, calling it a “sad day for public accountability and our anti-graft efforts.”

“It is an offense to the Filipino public that Janet Napoles’ sentence is diluted and is incommensurate to the gravity of the corruption she engineered because the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence,” she said.

On Monday, May 22, the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan acquitted Napoles in 16 cases involving the pork barrel scam but she will remain in detention because she had been convicted in other cases related to the same scam. (READ: TIMELINE: Pork barrel scam ‘queen’ Janet Napoles since her detention)

The opposition senator hoped that the Senate and other law enforcement units would not be discouraged from “continuously pushing for investigations and exposés that shed a harsh and necessary light on corruption ploys.”

“Patuloy na naghihirap ang mga kababayan natin dahil sa pangungurakot (Our countrymen continue to suffer due to corruption). We should continue depriving these avaricious appetites, and not sating them,” she said.

Besides Napoles, senators Bong Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada, and former senator Juan Ponce Enrile were also charged with plunder before the Sandiganbayan over alleged misuse of their pork barrel, the lump-sum funds previously allocated to legislators.

In 2017, Estrada posted bail before and gained temporary freedom after 3 years and 3 months in detention. In 2018, Revilla was freed after four years in jail and was acquitted of plunder in the controversial pork barrel scam case. Meanwhile, Enrile is out on bail. – Rappler.com