Gigi’s back, ready to face plunder raps

MANILA, Philippines - As the nation stood in relative silence in observance of Black Saturday yesterday, Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes – former chief of staff of Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile – returned to the country at dawn, eight months after she reportedly fled when she was linked to the pork barrel fund scam.

Reyes arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 from San Francisco, California on Philippine Airlines flight PR 105 at around 4:15 am. She traveled on business class.

A source said Reyes, who was on the Department of Justice (DOJ) “lookout bulletin,” was immediately cleared by immigration.

“I’m facing the charges against me. I have always faced it,” Reyes, in an orange suit, said in a brief interview with GMA News upon her arrival.

Sources said she would be testifying against her former boss. Another source said Reyes is now “under the control of the DOJ.”

Seen with her at the airport was her brother Patrick, along with two civilian security personnel who apparently were with her on the flight.

Reyes is one of the more than 30 individuals indicted on plunder and graft charges last April 1 in connection with the alleged embezzling of some P10 billion worth of Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), the official name of the congressional pork barrel.

Also indicted were Enrile, Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr. and alleged PDAF scam mastermind businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

On April 7, Reyes’ representatives asked the Office of the Ombudsman to reconsider her indictment for plunder.

Malacañang said it expects Reyes to shed light on the irregularity, which has also involved some administration allies.

“All government officials and employees named in the recent resolution issued by the Office of the Ombudsman in the PDAF-related plunder cases, including (Attorney) Jessica Lucila Reyes, are accountable for their actions, and are expected to fully disclose what they know,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said.

“Their willingness to shed light on the ongoing legal proceedings is vital to our people’s quest for justice,” Coloma said.

Sen. Grace Poe said she expects Reyes to reveal everything that she knows about the pork barrel scam issue.

“Our countrymen clamor for the truth and expect its unsullied exposition in pursuit of the nation’s highest interest. Together we should encourage and support those who will champion the truth and those who will favor the public good,” Poe said.

Malacañang earlier called on other individuals with vital information on the PDAF anomaly to come out in the open, but said the DOJ would have to evaluate their testimonies first.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago had proposed that Reyes be made a state witness, saying she could just be Enrile’s fall guy and that she could actually pin down the senator.

Santiago called Reyes a victim of a “scheme that was masterminded by a person I can only call as a sexually dysfunctional old man.” She was apparently referring to Enrile, with whom she had locked horns over several issues.

Reyes was being made to “take the criminal blame not only for his plunder, but also for his moral turpitude in the sense of sexual addiction openly displayed as a public official,” Santiago said.

“Naturally, they have an agreement that she will follow the orders of her boss. It was unlikely that Reyes, a graduate of the University of the Philippines School of Law, will do this alone,” she said.

Santiago and Reyes are neighbors at La Vista subdivision in Quezon City.

Puzzling

While Reyes’ resurfacing may be considered a boost to the prosecution, lawyers for some whistle-blowers in the pork barrel scam were wary about her sudden return.

“Nakakataka (It’s puzzling). I seriously want to know what their legal strategy is,” said lawyer Lourdes Benipayo in a phone interview with The STAR.

Benipayo, who represents witnesses Marina Sula, Simonette Briones and Arlyn Baltazar, said Reyes’ decision took her by surprise.

“I’m very, very wary. A battle with Enrile is not something you can take lightly. And if you ask me, I think the senator has knowledge of her coming and going,” Benipayo said.

She said she could not say if the development would be good or bad for the case, but she doubted if Reyes would testify against Enrile.

“It could be good in the sense that she can already answer the charges. But if her coming home meant she will give clarity to case, I don’t think so,” she said.

Ruby Tuason, one of those indicted in the pork scam case, said it was Reyes who received multimillion-peso kickbacks from ghost projects on Enrile’s behalf. Tuason was social secretary of Mayor Joseph Estrada when he was still president. The DOJ is still studying her request to become state witness.

For Stephen Cascolan, another lawyer for the whistle-blowers, the timing of Reyes’ coming out was suspicious.

“Individuals are now coming out in very late stages of the preliminary investigation to simply cause delay. The timing is questionable,” he said.

“It is becoming apparent that there is a concerted effort to delay the proceedings,” Cascolan said in a text message.

He said that what was good about the development was its having brought the issue back to the limelight.

“The strategy is effective because people have begun to forget about the PDAF and DAP (Development Acceleration Program) cases,” Cascolan said.

But time is running out, he said. “The witnesses are also beginning to find it harder and harder to fight on because of people’s lack of interest and their lack of resources as well as prolonged separation from their families,” he said. “As they say, one should only fight from a winning position.”

“The witnesses and the Filipino people will slowly lose this position if additional unreasonable delay is caused. What is clear to our group is that the best chance for justice to prevail is during the Aquino administration. Time is running out,” he added.

Prosecute auditors

Meanwhile, Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. of Dasmariñas City in Cavite said Commission on Audit (COA) Chairman Grace Pulido-Tan should investigate and have auditors linked to the PDAF scam prosecuted.

Barzaga said it is unfair that only some senators and staff, scores of congressmen and implementing agency officials have been charged in connection with the scam.

“But those of us in government all know that these irregularities would not have happened without the connivance of auditors. In my years of experience as a local executive, if an auditor puts his foot down on the use of money for a questionable purpose, no funds could be disbursed,” he said.

He said based on COA’s own audit reports, the misuse of billions of pesos of taxpayers’ money has been happening since 2007. COA has an exhaustive report on the use of PDAF between 2007 and 2009.

There were also findings from auditors that the same scam took place in 2010, 2011 and 2012, he said.

He said almost the same senators and members of the House of Representatives were involved, although implementation has shifted from some national agencies and government corporations in 2007-2009 to local government units and other state firms.

The same foundations and non-government organizations (NGOs), including those linked to Napoles, are also involved, he said.

“This means that there were so many red flags about the misuse of funds that auditors should have noticed but did not,” said Barzaga, who is an accountant-lawyer.

He added that auditors could have stopped the use of NGOs as fund conduits and implementing entities.

“That COA and its agency auditors themselves said so in its audit reports: That the agencies, not NGOs, should have handled the legislators’ funds and projects, that NGOs are not allowed to receive public funds unless there is legal authorization for it,” he said.

Barzaga suggested that Tan seek the help of the DOJ and the National Bureau of Investigation in investigating and prosecuting her own personnel to avoid perceptions of a whitewash.  â€“ With Jess Diaz, Aurea Calica, Aie Balagtas See, Marvin Sy, Perseus Echeminada