The Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) on Wednesday welcomed the ruling of the Sandiganbayan acquitting its party chairman, Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr., of graft charges in connection with the alleged pork barrel scam.
Pangasinan Rep. Christopher De Venecia, Lakas spokesman, said the decision of the anti-graft court clearing Revilla was proof that the charges against him were all fabricated.
“The recent Sandiganbayan decision has just proven right what the entire Lakas-CMD family believed all along — that our party chairman, Senator Bong Revilla, is innocent of all trumped-up charges leveled against him,” de Venecia said.
“In the end, the truth prevailed. This decision is a step in the right direction towards restoring faith and confidence in our country’s judicial system,” de Venecia stressed.
According to the 196-page ruling penned by Associate Justice Geraldine Econg, the Sandiganbayan First Division acquitted Revilla on 16 counts of graft for allegedly diverting his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to bogus nongovernment organizations controlled by businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles.
The anti-graft court granted Revilla’s demurrer to dismiss the cases against him for lack of evidence.
The ruling said the cases were junked “on the ground of insufficiency of evidence against him.”
“The bonds posted by accused Revilla are hereby ordered released,” the decision said.
The Sandiganbayan’s First Division announced the ruling on Tuesday.
Revilla was previously acquitted of plunder in 2018 after the prosecution failed to prove he pocketed PDAF funds amounting to P224.5 million.
In granting Revilla’s demurrer to evidence, the anti-graft court also denied the motion of Lim-Napoles.
The senator, in a statement, said “justice prevailed” after 8 years of trial.
“After eight long years, nangibabaw nang tuluyan ang Iyong hustisya… The Sandiganbayan, by granting our Demurrer to Evidence and dismissing all the charges against me, validates what we have known from the very beginning — that all the accusations against me have no basis and any leg to stand on,” said Revilla.
The former actor, who won another Senate term in 2019, insisted: “I never have been involved in graft and corruption.”
“This is the reason why I did not run; I did not hide; and did not evade the judicial system… The truth has come out. Now, I can move forward to serving our nation and our people even further, free of this nuisance,” he said.
Revilla, along with former Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada, were accused of receiving kickbacks from Napoles in exchange for funneling part of their discretionary funds to bogus non-government organizations.
With this development, Revilla has no more pending cases before the anti-graft court.
Associate Justice Econg penned the 196-page Sandiganbayan ruling. Associate Justices Rafael Lagos and Edgardo Caldona concurred.
Meanwhile, Associate Justices Efren Dela Cruz and Bayani Jacinto dissented in the grant of Revilla’s demurrer.
A demurrer to evidence is a petition asking the court to decide the case solely on the basis of the evidence presented by the prosecution while challenging such evidence to prove that it is not enough to merit conviction.
The court also dismissed the case against Revilla’s aide, Richard Cambe, by reason of his death.
Cambe died from a stroke while jailed in the New Bilibid Prison last April.
In deciding against Napoles’ arguments in her pleading, the Sandiganbayan said these “are simply a rehash of the arguments she raised in her Motion to Suppress Evidence and the Motion for Reconsideration, which were both previously resolved by this Court.”