Gigi Reyes seeks bail for plunder case

MANILA, Philippines — After three years in detention, lawyer Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes, who used to be the chief of staff of former senator Juan Ponce Enrile, is now seeking bail for a plunder case in connection with her alleged involvement in the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam.

In a seven-page motion filed before the Sandiganbayan Third Division, Reyes, through her legal counsels Anacleto Diaz and Maria Rosario Del Rosario, said it is never to late for her to seek freedom from detention despite the case's filing in June 2014.

Reyes said that although plunder is a capital offense punishable by reclusion perpetua, she is still “entitled” to post bail as the prosecution's evidence against her is supposedly “weak.”

“In the instant case, accused Reyes has consistently maintained that she is entitled to bail because no evidence of her guilt for the crime of Plunder as charged by the Prosecution, exists.” Reyes' motion read.

“There being thus no evidence, let alone strong evidence that accused Reyes is guilty of the crime charged, accused Reyes is entitled to bail as a matter of right,” it added.

The filing of the bail petition came after the Third Division, on May 8, upheld its January 3 ruling denying Reyes' motion to quash the case.

The court said the case information is sufficient and valid contrary to Reyes' claim that the charge sheet is “confusing and confounding” as the prosecution allegedly failed state her “specific overt criminal acts” showing her supposed involvement in the scam.

In her motion for bail, Reyes stressed that she is “not waiving, abandoning or abrogating in any way” the option of filing a petition before the the Supreme Court to question the Third Division's denial of her motion to quash her plunder case.

Reyes and businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles stand as co-accused of Enrile in plunder and graft cases in connection with the alleged misuse of the latter's Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel.

Reyes is accused of receiving on Enrile's behalf a total of P172.83 million worth of kickbacks in exchange for the then senator's alleged allocation of his PDAF to the fake non-government organizations supposedly owned by Napoles.

Reyes and Napoles are currently detained at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology Female Dormitory in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig.

Enrile, on the other hand, was released from hospital arrest at the Philippine National Police General Hospital in August 2015 after the SC granted his petition for bail.

Meanwhile, in a minute-resolution, the Third Division set the pretrial of Enrile's plunder case on August 15.

During the pre-trial, the prosecution and the defense are expected to submit their final list of evidence and witnesses they intend to present during the trial proper.

It can be remembered that the proceedings of Enrile's case was suspended since 2014 after he filed a petition for bail before the SC as well as a motion for bill of particulars to compel the prosecution to supply additional information in the charge sheet. The SC granted both motions.

Meanwhile, in a motion filed on May 25, Enrile, through his lawyer former solicitor-general Estelito Mendoza, asked Third Division chairman Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang to recuse herself from further handling his plunder case.

Enrile said Tang's appointment by former president Benigno Aquino III supposedly “subconsciously” affects the verdicts she renders.

Enrile specifically cited the Third Division's “unusually” swift denial of his motion for bill of particulars in July 11, 2014 as well as of his motion to dismiss the case on Jan. 31, 2017.

Under the rules of proceedings the recusal of a division chairman calls for the re-raffling of the case to another court division.