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Friday, March 29, 2024

Benhur Luy complains of exhaustion

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GOVERNMENT prosecutors on Tuesday said whistle-blower Benhur Luy is already getting tired with the hearings on the plunder and graft charges filed against lawmakers before the Sandiganbayan’s five divisions.

Luy through the prosecution asked the Fifth Division to be excused from the bail plea hearing of former Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives party-list representative Edgar Valdez and alleged pork barrel fund scam suspect Janet Lim Napoles because of exhaustion.

But Associate Justice Alexander Gesmundo said exhaustion must not be an excuse.

He said even the court magistrates and the defense are exhausted, too.

Prosecutor Jacinto de la Cruz told the court that the prosecution panel was also getting tired.

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Associate Justice Roland Jurado said the defense and the prosecution are not the only ones getting exhausted, but also the justices.

The anti-graft court is handling 2,000 cases, he added.

Associate Justice Alexander Gesmundo concurred with Jurado, citing the presence of Valdez’s medical team in the court.

Valdez, who is suffering from a heart problem, is facing plunder and graft for allegedly receiving P57.78 million in commissions from funneling his Priority Development Assistance Fund in 2004 until 2010.

He was among the second batch of lawmakers accused of plunder by the Office of the Ombudsman for the pork barrel fund scam engineered by Napoles.

Senior state prosecutor Omar Sagadal, however, said the statement that Luy  was getting tired came from him, and that he just said it lightly.

Jurado cautioned Sagadal of contempt.

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