Senator Bong Revilla, shown in photo on his way to be detained on plunder and graft charges, said his lawyer, Sal Panelo, only talked about the rats and roaches in his cell in jest. Revilla’s lawyer has said the senator’s family saw rats “as big as cats” inside the senator’s cell. (MNS photo)
MANILA, Mar 7 (Mabuhay) – For the fourth time, the Sandiganbayan First Division deferred the scheduled pre-trial of the plunder and graft cases against Sen. Ramon Bong Revilla Jr. in connection with his alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam.
At the scheduled pre-trial on Monday, the prosecution panel admitted that it is not yet done with the marking of voluminous documentary evidence for the graft case.
Revilla’s lawyer Ramon Esguerra, in turn, manifested that their camp will first await for the prosecution to finish with its marking of exhibits in order for his client to identify the best counter exhibits to present.
Under the rules of criminal procedures, only the marked evidence will be allowed to be presented before the court during the trial proper.
Meanwhile, for the plunder case, both the prosecution and the defense admitted that they were not yet done with the stipulation of facts.
Revilla, in an alleged conspiracy with his former chief of staff Richard Cambe, is accused of amassing P224-million worth of kickbacks by allocating his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel for 2006 to 2010 to the fake non-government organizations allegedly owned by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the scam.
Revilla and Cambe are detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City since June 2014 while Napoles is detained at the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City.
During the hearing, Cambe manifested that he still has reservations on some of the documents marked by the prosecution as exhibits as he has yet to receive copies of some of them.
Cambe, a lawyer, also informed the court that he will now be representing himself in both cases as Remigio Michael Ancheta, who used to be his lawyer, recently withdrew his appearance for the cases.
In a Motion to Withdraw Appearance as Counsel submitted to the First Division on February 12, Ancheta said he and his law firm Ancheta and Associates no longer wish to serve as counsel for Cambe “due to differences in the handling of the case and non-payment of fees.”
To enable the prosecution and the defense to finish marking their documentary exhibits, First Division chairman Associate Justice Efren Dela Cruz ordered both camps to meet for preliminary conferences every Monday and Friday of the week starting on March 28 until June 27.
Dela Cruz set the whole day of April 11 for the stipulation of facts for the plunder case.
The pre-trial for both cases was moved to June 30.
During the pre-trial proceedings, both the prosecution and the defense are expected to submit to the court the final list of witnesses and documentary exhibits they intended to present during the trial proper.
It was September 2014 when the First Division denied Revilla’s petition to post bail for his plunder case. The court said the prosecution was able to present strong evidence against him and his co-accused in the course of the bail hearings.
Revilla was not present during Monday’s proceedings but was represented by his lawyers Esguerra and Reody Anthony Balisi.
Napoles, meanwhile, was represented by her lawyer Stephen David.(MNS)