Senator Juan Ponce Enrile entered this plea when he was arraigned
yesterday morning at the Sandiganbayan Third Division on 15 counts of
graft charges in connection with the P10-billion Priority Development
Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.
Enrile’s co-accused, suspected pork barrel mastermind Janet Lim
Napoles, also entered a not guilty plea to the same counts of graft
charges.
But another co-accused – lawyer Jessica Lucila Reyes, Enrile’s former chief of staff – refused to enter any plea.
Reyes’s counsel, lawyer Anacleto Diaz, told reporters that she did
not enter any plea due to legal remedies that they are seeking before
the Supreme Court.
Last July 11, Enrile was also arraigned on plunder charges.
Enrile and his co-accused were charged for allegedly conspiring to
cause the government undue injury amounting to around P345 million for
all 15 counts of graft in diverting and receiving kickbacks from his
PDAF to finance ghost projects of Napoles.
Diaz explained that the remedies Reyes are seeking would be rendered “academic” if she entered a plea.
“In order to preserve these remedies, we are not entering a plea.
That’s a recognized legal remedy that anyone can resort to,” he told
media.
Diaz said they sought before the Supreme Court the nullification of
an Ombudsman resolution finding probable cause “because we have been
deprived due process of law.”
“Yung sworn statement na pinagbasihan ng probable cause hanggang
ngayon wala kaming kopya despite repeated requests (In spite of repeated
requests, up to now we still have not received copies of the sworn
statements that were used as basis for finding probable cause),” Diaz
lamented.
Apart from Reyes, Enrile’s co-accused who refused to enter any plea
were Jose Antonio Evangelista II, 15 counts of graft; Rhodora Mendoza,
seven counts; and Victor Roman Cacal, six counts.
Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje Tang, who is also the
Third Division chairman, said the court, in accordance with the Revised
Rules of Court, entered not guilty pleas on behalf of those who refused
to enter pleas.
Enrile’s other co-accused who also pleaded not guilty were: Dennis
Cunanan, two counts of graft; Francisco Figura, two counts; Ma.
Rosalinda Lacsamana, two counts; Marivic Jover, two counts; Encarnita
Christina Munsod, one count; Maria Ninez Guanizo, six counts; Consuelo
Lilian Espiritu, one count; Gondelina Amata, six counts; Emmanuel Alexis
Sevidal, six counts; Ofelia Ordonez, six counts; Filipina Rodriguez,
six counts; Chita Jalandoni, six counts; Sofia Cruz, six counts; and
Gregoria Buenaventura, five counts.
Those who were supposed to be arraigned yesterday but did not appear
were Jocelyn Piorato, Mylene Encarnacion, Eulogio Rodriguez, Evelyn de
Leon, and Nitz Cabilao. Tang immediately ordered their bonds cancelled
and gave their lawyers 10 days upon receipt of the notice to show cause
why they should not be cited for contempt for failing to appear.
Associate Justice Samuel Martires underscored the need for a speedy
preliminary conference in order to immediately begin the trial proper
for the graft cases.
“If you consider the number of accused in this case, the preliminary
conference will take months. After all there are only four matters to be
discussed – plea bargaining, manifestation of objections, stipulation
of facts and the marking of evidence,” Martires told both the
prosecution and defense panels.
As part of the pre-trial stage, a preliminary conference is meant to
shorten the trial period itself by accomplishing tasks that would
otherwise eat up a lot of time during the actual proceedings.
However, constraints on the prosecution and defense lawyers’
schedules and the voluminous documents involved in the case are expected
to push the beginning of the graft trial to May 2015.
The prosecution alone said that they had “around 2,000 pages” of
documents that need to be marked. As it is, both panels are amenable to
meeting only once a week – Thursday – for the purpose.
Citing the marking of evidence as “the most important,” Martires
initially challenged the lawyers to finish or terminate the preliminary
conference stage within 10 days if only to hasten the proceedings.
Meanwhile, Reyes asked the Sandiganbayan to allow her to use her
laptop with Internet access in jail so she can better prepare for her
defense.
In a motion filed with the Sandiganbayan Third Division, Diaz
lamented that “with her detention and medical condition, accused Reyes
is already handicapped in assisting her counsel prepare her defenses for
trial.”
“Allowing accused Reyes to use a laptop computer with printer and
Internet connection while in detention will mitigate this handicap as it
would allow accused Reyes to access and review the evidence for and
against her, recollect, write, encode and store her narration of vital
facts and arrange her documentary exhibits in orderly fashion for their
submission in Court,” the motion explained
