THE Supreme Court has paved the way for the Sandiganbayan to proceed with the prosecution of former Technology Resource Center (TRC) chief Antonio Ortiz and former budget undersecretary Mario Relampagos, in connection with the multibillion-peso pork barrel funds anomaly.
During its en banc session on Tuesday, the SC dismissed the separate petitions of Ortiz and Relampagos questioning the rulings of the Sandiganbayan in 2014 allowing the amendment of cases filed against them by the Office of the Ombudsman.
“The Court agreed with the Sandiganbayan and held that the Sandiganbayan did not commit grave abuse of discretion; nor did it commit error when it found probable cause against petitioners,” SC spokesman Theodore Te said, in a media briefing.
The high court held that there was nothing wrong with the amendments, including the inclusion of the name of Ortiz in the case against former senate president Juan Ponce Enrile, as they were “mere formal amendments.”
Ortiz filed an earlier petition with the SC questioning his indictment in the pork barrel cases.
