Ombudsman withdraws motion to amend Enrile charge sheet

MANILA, Philippines - Government prosecutors on Monday withdrew their request for the Sandiganbayan to allow them to change some words on the original plunder charge against Senator Juan Ponce Enrile.

In its motion to withdraw before the anti-graft court's Third Division, the Office of the Special Prosecutor said it will no longer pursue to effect such amendments on the original information against Enrile.

The Third Division approved the motion on Monday afternoon.

State lawyers noted that they decided to forego amending the information on the charge sheet after similar requests have been filed by the prosecution before the First and Fifth Divisions of the Sandiganbayan, handling the plunder cases of Senators Ramon Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada, respectively.

"Issues rose during said hearings and the processes it could have entailed for all involved to file their respective responsive pleadings such as comments and oppositions, or even motions, became a consideration," the prosecution said in the motion.

"Hence, the prosecution has decided to no longer pursue the proposed amendment for being only an amendment in form, and to simply withdraw the subject manifestation with motion to admit amended information," the prosecutors added.

The prosecution panel also requested the Court to cancel the scheduled July 1 hearing on its previous motion.

Earlier, the First Division had denied the substantial changes on the plunder case against Revilla while the government prosecutors handling the similar case against Estrada withdrew their request to amend the charge sheet after being warned by the Fifth Division that the motion may lead to the release of the senator.

In a memorandum approved by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, the prosecution panel decided to amend some words in plunder information against the three senators to emphasize their direct involvement or transaction with businesswoman Janet Napoles in the P10 billion pork barrel scam.

Aside from replacing the word conspiring to collaborating and conniving, the prosecutors also wanted to delete the phrase in the original charge sheet "enabling Napoles to misapproriate the PDAF (priority development assistance fund) proceeds for her personal gain."