A Sandigan Justice changed his mind on the bail petition of lawyer Jessica Lucila Reyes, the former chief of staff and co-accused of former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile in the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam but it was not enough to have Reyes released on bail.
Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Bernelito Fernandez wrote in his ponencia on June 28, 2018 that there was “strong evidence” against Reyes in the PDAF as based on the PDAF scam state witness Ruby Tuason.
Tuason earlier testified against the bail petition of Reyes in his plunder case at the Sandiganbayan’s Third Division.
She admitted to have been the go-between who negotiated the transactions between alleged pork barrel mastermind Janet Lim Napoles and Reyes with regard to Enrile’s for the years 2007 to 2009.
Fernandez took note of Tuason’s statement that she was “in charge of delivering the share of Senator Enrile to Atty. Gigi Reyes”—referring to alleged pork funds kickbacks.
But in the resolution of the special division dated Dec. 7, 2018, Fernandez dissented from the majority opinion of four of his colleagues that Reyes’ motion for reconsideration be denied.
In his dissenting opinion, he acknowledged the testimony of Tuason “is not enough” as she “could neither recall any of the amounts she allegedly delivered to accused Reyes nor the transactions for which she delivered the same, even considering that these events occurred several years ago.”
Reyes, in her motion for reconsideration, claimed the first resolution was “defective in form and substance” because it did not contain a “complete summary of the evidence against her.”
“In view of the foregoing, this court finds the evidence against accused-movant Reyes to be strong,” the court said in the resolution penned by Presiding Justice and Division Chairperson Amparo Cabotaje-Tang, with the concurrence of Associate Justices Sarah Jane Fernandez, Oscar Herrera and Maryann Corpus-Mañalac.
