Revilla aide asks Sandigan to reconsider suspension order

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr.’s former chief of staff, Richard Cambe, has asked the Sandiganbayan to reverse its decision imposing a 90-day preventive suspension order against him.

In a six-page motion for reconsideration, Cambe said the anti-graft court’s First Division committed an error in not conducting a pre-suspension hearing that could have allowed him the chance to rebut the charges.

Cambe, who still works at the Senate as a director, denied the validity of the plunder case filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in relation to the pork barrel until the fund scam has been established with finality.

Through lawyer Remigio Ancheta, Cambe argued “a pre-suspension hearing is mandatory before suspension may be effected.”

Cambe said the plunder and graft charge lodged against him and Revilla also remains questionable based on pending issues before the Sandiganbayan and the Supreme Court.

Cambe said the criminal charges against him are flawed because these “accuse a private individual in the person of Janet Lim Napoles as the principal of the crime, not the public officers.”

He said proof that the plunder and graft charges are invalid is the motion filed by ombudsman prosecutors seeking amendments in the charge sheets.

Cambe said such effort to amend the criminal information is a clear admission that the charge of plunder against him is defective.

He argued the Sandiganbayan should reverse and set aside its July 31 decision to issue a preventive suspension order against him or at least conduct a pre-suspension hearing first.

Different divisions of the anti-graft court have issued 90-day preventive suspension orders against Senators Revilla, Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada, and Cambe.

Last week, the Sandiganbayan Third Division denied Enrile’s motion for reconsideration and affirmed its decision to suspend the 90-year-old lawmaker.

The appeals filed by Revilla, Estrada, and Cambe have yet to be resolved by the anti-graft court’s First and Fifth Divisions.