The Sandiganbayan has ordered a former aide of ex-Senator-now presidential legal counsel Juan Ponce Enrile to post bail in connection with her graft cases arising from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scandal.
The respondent, Gigi Reyes, faces15 counts of graft, with the recommended bail at P30,000 for each case, or a total of P450,000 for all 15 cases.
At the adjournment of Thursday hearing for the plunder and graft cases against Reyes, Enrile and some other co-accused, Associate Justice Bernelito Fernandez called the attention of Reyes’ lawyer on the bail issue.
“After a review of the records, the court was surprised that accused
Reyes has not yet submitted bail for these cases,” Fernandez told Reyes’ counsel.
The anti-graft court’s 3rd division then gave Reyes 15 days to post the complete bail for the graft cases.
However, lawyer Levito Baligod, one of the private complainants in the PDAF scam, pointed out that the petition for habeas corpus was for Reyes’ plunder case, which was non-bailable.
Observers noted that Reyes should not have been released from detention without posting her bail.
“In legal circles, napag-usapan po namin ‘yan, bakit pinalabas ng Bureau of Corrections si Atty. Reyes na wala pa siyang bail doon sa 15 counts of graft, kaya po they were able to remedy it,” Baligod told Teleradyo.
Baligod also said the BuCor might be held administratively liable for releasing Reyes, considering that the petition was only for her plunder case.
“Pwede ring may pananagutan ‘yung management or ‘yung namamahala ng Bureau of Corrections, dahil ang saklaw lamang noong pagpapalaya kay Atty. Reyes ay ‘yung sa plunder, hindi po doon sa 15 counts of graft,” he explained.
Reyes, who was Enrile’s former chief of staff, was released last month after the Supreme Court (SC) granted her lawyer’s petition for habeas corpus in connection with her almost nine years of incarceration over the non-bailable case of plunder.
Reyes was present in court since the SC directed her to attend all her hearings at the Sandiganbayan.
During the hearings, the prosecution presented four
farmer beneficiaries from Rosales, Pangasinan, namely, Ernesto Calantoc, Jr., Saturnino Brizuela, Melito Meriales and Edwin Meriales.
The farmers testified that they did not receive any agricultural subsidy from connection the PDAF.