Sandigan denies appeal of Enrile’s co-accused

MANILA, Philippines - The Sandiganbayan has denied the appeal of the two co-accused of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile to stop their indictment for plunder and graft cases in connection with the pork barrel scam.

The anti-graft court’s Third Division junked the joint motion for reconsideration filed by Ronald John Lim and John Raymund de Asis for lack of merit.

Lim is the nephew of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles. De Asis is her driver and bodyguard.

The two were charged with plunder for allegedly delivering kickbacks purportedly intended for Enrile.

In a resolution penned by Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang and Associate Justices Alex Quiroz and Samuel Martires, the court said Lim and De Asis failed to prove their claim that there was no probable cause for their indictment.

The lawyers of the accused said the allegation that they delivered kickbacks to Enrile was inconsistent with the findings of the ombudsman that Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes received the commissions.

Meanwhile, the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) has been directed by the Sandiganbayan to conduct a thorough medical examination on Enrile.

PGH director Jose Gonzales asked the court to order the Makati Medical Center, Asian Eye Institute and the Philippine National Police General Hospital to submit to them copies of Enrile’s medical records.

He said the records would enable PGH doctors to make an adequate assessment on Enrile’s condition.

Gonzales suggested that the senator undergo 10 medical examinations today and next week. These include chest x-ray, holoabdominal UTZ, coronary CT-Calcium scoring, eye tests, ophthalmoloscopy, slit lamp examinations, tonometry and 2D echocardiogram with Doppler.

Jinggoy: No hand in choosing ‘pork’ recipients

Detained Sen. Jinggoy Estrada yesterday denied having knowledge on how portions of his pork barrel allocation supposedly went to a 19-month-old infant and several dead people.

Estrada said the agencies that carried out the projects should explain how the funds went to bogus non-government organizations (NGOs) and dead persons.

“I have no hand in the implementation of the projects funded under the PDAF,” the senator’s statement read, referring to the Priority Development Assistance Fund.

Earlier, anti-graft investigator Vic Escalante told the Sandiganbayan the ombudsman had discovered that an infant and several dead persons were among the “farmers” who purportedly received farm inputs purchased out of the pork barrel funds of Estrada.

Ex-Nabcor head seeks SC relief

The former president of the National Agribusiness Corp. (Nabcor) has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to stop the Sandiganbayan from proceeding with the trial of graft cases filed against him in connection with the pork barrel scam.

In a 35-page petition, Alan Javellana urged the high court to issue a temporary restraining order to enjoin the Office of the Ombudsman from prosecuting him over alleged irregular disbursements of some P1.14 billion in PDAF of the three senators facing trial before the anti-graft court.

Javellana said the ombudsman committed grave abuse of discretion when it ruled that there is probable cause to indict him for graft.

He claimed that he never pocketed a single centavo in exchange for signing PDAF documents during his term as Nabcor head.

Javellana branded as “preposterous” the claim of whistle-blower Benhur Luy that he received kickbacks from PDAF funds.

He noted that his name does not appear in the ledger of disbursements of kickbacks submitted by Luy to the Department of Justice. – With Christina Mendez, Edu Punay