'Ibang klaseng kakapalan': Hilbay urges Bong Revilla to return 'stolen public funds'

MANILA, Philippines — Former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay on Thursday said he is one with the Office of the Ombudsman in insisting that former Sen. Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. pay for the P124.5 million civil liability on his dismissed plunder case.

In a statement, Hilbay, an opposition senatorial candidate and rival of Revilla in the upcoming May 2019 polls, said the former senator has no shame.

“Iyong perang pinapabalik ay pera ng bayan. Perang dapat ginamit upang pagandahin ang buhay ng ordinaryong mamamayan - pondong maaaring gamitin sa pag-aaral, pabahay, pangkalusugan, at pangkabuhayan (The money that should be returned is from public funds. Money that was supposed to be utilized to better the lives of ordinary Filipinos – funds that can be used for education, housing, health and livelihood),”  Hilbay said.

“Ibang klaseng kakapalan ng mukha ang ipagdamot sa mga kababayan natin ang perang ninakaw sa kanila, kahit Korte na mismo ang nagpapabalik noon,” he added.

Due to this, Hilbay said he is urging Revilla to return his P124.5 million civil liability in relation to the Priority Development Assistance Fund case which implicated him, his staff and alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles.

'Corruption was committed'

The former solicitor general clarified that Revilla was relieved from his criminal case due to “reasonable doubt” but it doesn’t mean that the court has doubts about the corruption that occurred.

He stressed that the court was clear that corruption has been committed.

“Malinaw ang batas, kahit anupamang pambabaluktot ang gawin ng kaniyang kampo: kahit sinong baguhang abugado ay alam na magkahiwalay ang civil at criminal liability, at magkaiba ang basehan upang patunayan ang obligasyon ng nasasakdal sa bawat kaso,” Hilbay said.

The senatorial bet also said serving the public in the name of “truth and love for the country” does not mean stealing from the public

On Wednesday, the Ombudsman's Office of the Special Prosecutor filed a Motion for Execution of Judgment before the Sandiganbayan’s Special First Division to ask the anti-graft court to issue a Writ of Execution against Revilla.

They are urging the Sandiganbayan to demand the return of Revilla’s civil liability.

READ: Ombudsman prosecutors urge court to order Revilla to pay in PDAF case

Last December, the Sandiganbayan acquitted Revilla in the multimillion-peso plunder case saying prosecutors failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the former lawmaker “received, directly or indirectly the rebates, commission and kickbacks from his [PDAF].”

The ombudsman prosecutors alleged that the actor turned senator, through his aide Richard Cambe, received from businesswoman Napoles a total of P224.5 million in kickbacks in exchange for the allocation of his PDAF to bogus non-government organizations.

This prompted questions on the return of the public funds on whether Revilla or only his co-accused Cambe and Napoles would pay for the damages.

Revilla has been detained in Camp Crame for four years for his involvement in the pork barrel scam. He was released last December 7 following the historic ruling of the anti-graft court.