MANILA, Philippines — Former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. on Thursday said his legal team is considering filing another petition for bail despite the Sandiganbayan's previous rulings maintaining that the evidence for his plunder case is strong to warrant his continued detention.
“I will leave that to my lawyers, but most likely, we will follow the move of Senator Jinggoy and file a second petition for bail,” Revilla told reporters after attending the hearing Thursday on his plunder case in connection with the multibillion-peso pork barrel fund scam.
Revilla made the statement amid the growing anticipation that an omnibus motion filed late last year by former fellow senator Jinggoy Estrada will be granted by the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division.
READ: Ombudsman braces for possible grant of Jinggoy's bail plea
Estrada's plunder case is also in connection with the pork barrel scam.
In his omnibus motion filed on September 12, 2016, Estrada prayed to the Fifth Division to allow him to post bail on the ground of the supposed failure of the prosecution to establish the elements of plunder.
Estrada's said the prosecution also failed to identify him in the charge sheet as the "main plunderer" in the case because his share of the supposed P183-million kickback would only be P45.9 million if divided among his co-accused. The threshold for plunder is P50 million.
Revilla admitted that unconfirmed reports on Fifth Division's possible granting Estrada's omnibus motion has already reached him.
“I'm speechless, I’m happy for him... Kaya naniniwala pa rin naman akong merong hustisya sa bansa (With that, I truly believe that there is justice in this country),” Revilla said.
Revilla and Estrada have been detained at the Philippines National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City since the filing of the cases in June 2014.
Juan Ponce Enrile, another former senator charged with plunder over the “pork”, was granted bail by the Supreme Court in August 2015 due to “humanitarian considerations”.
In an interview with select reports on Wednesday, three highly-placed sources from the Office of the Ombudsman admitted that they are anticipating the Fifth Division to grant Estrada's omnibus motion.
One of the sources said that this early, they are already preparing a motion for reconsideration as they are anticipating a 3-2 vote in favor of Estrada's bail.
The source said they are also prepared to go before the Supreme Court should the Sandiganbayan denies their appeal.