Citing his age, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile asked the Sandiganbayan to immediately resolve his motion to dismiss the plunder and graft cases against him that are still pending after nine years of litigation.
Enrile asked the court’s Third Division to reconsider its earlier resolution that said his demurrer to evidence would be resolved simultaneously with the main decision after the presentation of evidence of his co-accused.
Enrile in effect asked the court to grant his demurrer to evidence without waiting for the other accused to finish their presentation.
“The subject ‘Resolution’ of the Honorable Court violates the Constitution. It does not promote a speedy disposition of cases and it diminishes Enrile’s substantive right to speedy trial,” said the motion, which was signed by Enrile’s lawyer Estelito Mendoza.
In the motion, Enrile cited Section 8, Rule VIII of the Sandiganbayan Internal Rules that states “a demurrer (to evidence) may be resolved or decided simultaneously or jointly with the main decision.”
“Instead of resolving the incident on the ‘Demurrer to Evidence’ in accordance with the Rules of Court, the Honorable Court applied the Sandiganbayan Internal Rule without any certainty as to when the other accused might terminate the presentation of their respective defenses, without regard as to the length of time that this case has been pending and without considering as well the age and health of the accused,” Enrile’s motion said.
It added that the resolution defeated the purpose of a demurrer to evidence.
Enrile, a former Senate president, stressed that his trial started in June 2014 and has been pending for nine years.
“At every opportunity, Enrile invoked his constitutional right to speedy trial, while also reminding this Honorable Court of his vulnerable age as well as that of his counsel. Enrile is 99 years old while the undersigned counsel is 93 years old,” Mendoza said in the motion for reconsideration.
The Ombudsman filed plunder and graft cases against Enrile and several others in in connection with the alleged misuse of P172 million worth of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel when he was a senator.
State prosecutors in July rested their case against Enrile in both the plunder and 15 counts of graft cases last July.