Sandigan junks Napoles appeal on ‘pork’ case

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has denied another attempt of detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles to be cleared of a plunder case in connection with the alleged misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel of former congressman Edgar Valdez.

In a resolution promulgated last Aug. 8, the court’s Fifth Division said Napoles failed to raise any new meritorious argument in her motion for reconsideration that would warrant the reversal of its July 4 resolution, in which the court refused to admit her memorandum containing the summary of arguments and evidence her camp presented during trial.

Napoles, in her memorandum, prayed to the court to acquit her of the case, insisting that the Office of the Ombudsman’s prosecution panel failed to prove her guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

In its new resolution, the Fifth Division maintained that the memorandum must not be admitted for being filed beyond the 30-day deadline.

The Fifth Division had earlier noted that while Valdez and the prosecution filed their memoranda last Feb. 15 and Feb. 20, respectively, Napoles only filed her memorandum on March 31, more than a month from the deadline of filing.

Besides, the Fifth Division pointed out, refusal to admit Napoles’ memorandum will not result in violation of her right to due process as the filing and admission of a memorandum is not mandatory and is solely upon the discretion of the court.

Furthermore, the court said, all the parties were already given the opportunity to be heard and present their evidence during the trial.

Meanwhile, in the same resolution, the Fifth Division also denied Napoles’ appeal to take judicial notice of the transcript of stenographic notes (TSNs) of the testimony of primary state witness Benhur Luy, in which Luy supposedly admitted that he has no proof that the kickbacks allegedly received by Valdez came from Napoles’ JLN Corp. or from non-government organizations (NGOs).

“After careful examination of the issue at hand, we are not persuaded to take judicial notice of TSNs pertaining to the cross-examination of witness Benhur Luy by accused’s counsel,” the Fifth Division said.

With the denial of Napoles’ appeal to have her memorandum admitted by the court, the case is now deemed submitted for decision.

Filed by the ombudsman in 2015, the case stemmed from the alleged misuse of Valdez’s PDAF from 2004 to 2010 during his term as representative of the party-list group Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives.

Valdez allegedly received P57.78 million worth of kickbacks from Napoles in exchange for allocating his PDAF to the businesswoman’s bogus NGOs for the supposed implementation of his livelihood projects.

The ombudsman said the projects turned out to be fictitious or were never implemented.

Valdez and Napoles were granted bail by the Fifth Division in April 2016.

Valdez had earlier posted P1.71 million bail for his provisional liberty while Napoles remains in detention at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City following her conviction of plunder in connection with the misuse of PDAF of since reelected Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr.

Napoles is also named as co-accused in the pending plunder cases against former senator Juan Ponce Enrile, reelected Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and former Masbate Third District representative Rizalina Seachon-Lanete.