MANILA, Philippines - Weeping after the plunder complaint was read to her in open court, lawyer Jessica “Gigi” Reyes did not enter a plea during her arraignment at the Sandiganbayan yesterday on charges filed against her by the Office of the Ombudsman.
The court entered a not guilty plea on her behalf.
Reyes, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile’s former chief of staff, reportedly experienced difficulty in breathing and almost vomited after the proceedings, prompting the Sandiganbayan justices to put her on a wheelchair and have nurses check her blood pressure.
“On advice of my counsel your honors, I am not entering any plea,” Reyes told Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang, who also chairs the anti-graft court’s Third Division.
Reyes is facing plunder and graft charges together with Enrile and alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, among her co-accused for her alleged role in the misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of lawmakers.
Reyes, who was in handcuffs that were removed when she entered the courtroom, stood with her lawyer Anacleto Diaz while the charges were read to her, but she was later allowed to sit down as the court entered a not guilty plea for her.
Associate Justice Samuel Martires, a member of the Third Division, said Reyes was allowed to sit at the lawyer’s table not because she is being given special treatment but because the accused is also a lawyer herself.
After the arraignment, Reyes, obviously emotional, showed signs of dizziness so a nurse from the BJMP took her blood pressure, which was 139/94.
The Sandiganbayan also allowed the anti-graft court’s resident nurse to take her blood pressure, which registered 120/80.
The Sandiganbayan said she was returned to her detention facility inside Camp Bagong Diwa, where she was ordered committed days after she surrendered to the court.
Reyes re-files SC petition
Reyes also re-filed yesterday before the Supreme Court (SC) her petition seeking to stop her criminal indictment in the Sandiganbayan.
She filed last Monday a supplemental petition asking the high court to quash the arrest warrants issued by the anti-graft court on the plunder case and 15 counts of graft and allow her to be released from detention.
But the high tribunal junked her pleading outright last Tuesday over a procedural defect, saying the relief sought did not supplement her original petition filed last month.
The SC, however, stressed that the dismissal was without prejudice to seeking of proper remedy, which means the petition may be re-filed separately from Reyes’ first petition.
Reyes then heeded the ruling and filed the new petition with exactly the same arguments and prayers. – With Edu Punay, Mike Frialde