House Deputy Minority Leader and Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima denounced the Sandiganbayan’s acquittal of Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile in graft cases related to his alleged misuse of Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel.
“This is always what is so frustrating for the Ombudsman and the DOJ (Department of Justice). We started fresh and strong on the evidence when we filed the PDAF cases, strong enough to even deny Enrile and Reyes bail in the separate plunder cases,” de Lima said in a statement.
“The problem is the slow wheels of justice, with the accused relying on the public’s short memory to eventually be absolved because of less scrutiny over their cases over years of trial,” the former justice secretary said.
De Lima expressed fears that: “If this is what will happen to the flood control project cases, good luck to us. But then, some people are just really luckier than others. Faith in our justice system is difficult to achieve and/or sustain, if the courts apply a different kind of justice to privileged offenders as compared to common accused.”
House Assistant Minority Leader and Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Sarah Elago echoed De Lima’s opposition to the anti-graft court’s acquittal ruling on Enrile.
“Ito ang mukha ng bulok na hustisya sa Pilipinas—kung sino ang makapangyarihan, siya ang nakakawala (This is the face of the rotten justice system in the Philippines),” Elago said. “Twelve years after the PDAF scam, the very same people who plundered public funds are once again walking free.”
Elago likened the PDAF scam to the current flood control scam, saying both are rooted in the same pork barrel corruption that continues to thrive under the present administration.
The lawmaker urged the Filipino people to be outraged over the impunity that continues to plague the justice system, warning that the same fate awaits other corruption cases if public pressure wanes.
Enrile was cleared in the last graft case leveled against him as well as his former staff Jessica Lucila Reyes and businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles.
