Enrile wants Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo M. Cabotaje-Tang to inhibit from his pork barrel case.
Former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile wants Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang to inhibit from his pork barrel cases as her appointment by former President Benigno Aquino III may affect her decision making over the case.
In a 15-page motion dated May 26, Enrile, through his counsel lawyer Estelito Mendoza, casts doubt on Tang's impartiality to decide on his case.
Enrile said “subconscious forces” could affect the verdicts in “the momentous cases she decides.”
The motion quoted a three-page portion of United States Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo’s classic 1921 book, The Nature of the Judicial Process, which said that “subconscious forces” could shape a judge’s thought processes.
“Deep below consciousness are other forces, the likes and the dislikes, the predilections and the prejudices, the complex of instincts and emotions and habits and convictions, which make the man, whether he be litigant or judge,” Enrile quoted the portion of the quote in the book
At a hearing Thursday, Tang gave prosecutors a non-extendible period of 10 days to comment on Enrile’s motion.
Enrile, for his part, will be given another seven days to reply to the comment.
Enrile was among the legislators named by “pork barrel queen” Janet Lim Napoles who had allegedly pocketed government funds through fake projects and bogus non-governmental organizations.
He was detained inside the Philippine National Police General Hospital for over 150 days, following his arrest in 2014 over graft and plunder charges. He was released on bail in 2015.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Ombudsman indicted a former mayor in Cotabato City for graft raps over irregularities in the procurement of consultancy services in 2012.
It found probable cause to charge former mayor Betty Allado of Banisilan municipality for violation of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act before the Sandiganbayan.
Included as co-accused were bids and awards committee committee members Jaime Alisasis, Ramil Jayma, Marietta Nonan, Ramon Capanang, Carmencita Bari, Andres Serue, Raymond Franco, Jornalito Allado and Hilario Cabangon.
Noel Bryan Tuling, manager of JK Engineering and Design and Consultancy Services, was included in the indictment.
In 2012, Banisilan became the beneficiary of the “Sagana at Ligtas na Tubig sa Lahat” program of the national government and was granted P7 million for its implementation.
Allado and company facilitated the procurement of consultancy services for the water project.
The respondents, however, failed to present proof that they complied with the requirements of the Government Procurement Reform Act.
The Ombudsman investigators found several bidding irregularities, such as the non-posting of the invitation to bid, discrepancies regarding the dates of opening of bids and deliberation of bids and awards committee, and a deficient invitation to bid.
The municipal government granted the consultancy services project to JK Engineering. manager of JK Engineering and Design and Consultancy Services.
“The foregoing contradictions prove that no competitive bidding transpired in the procurement of consultancy services,” the Ombudsman's resolution read.