Miriam says Enrile, Jinggoy, Revilla want plunder raps downgraded

Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, Sen. Ramon Bong Revilla and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada—the three senators implicated in the alleged pork barrel scam—want the plunder complaint filed against them downgraded to malversation, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said Tuesday.

At a press conference after her speech at the convention of Philippine Psychiatric Association, Santiago said the three are using public opinion to pressure the Ombudsman to downgrade the complaint.

“Of course if you downgrade it to malversation, the penalty is no longer as severe as it is,” she said.

Under Philippine law, plunder is punishable by life imprisonment.

Because of the three's senators' “strategy,” Santiago urged Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales to release its findings on the alleged misuse of Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to supposedly to stop the three from coming up with various accusations against other government officials.

“I hope the Ombudsman will release it so that she can clarify the status of the people involved, otherwise they will keep on biting other people like scorpion,” she said.

“That resolution of the Ombudsman is going to be seismic and also it will stop all of these efforts to litigate outside the office of the Ombudsman and outside the court,” Santiago added.

Enrile, Estrada and Revilla all delivered privilege speeches denying involvement in the pork barrel scam.

Santiago said the strategy of the three is to reduce the complaint from plunder to malversation. “I think their strategy is not really to obtain a verdict of acquittal or for the case to be dismissed. I think what they are actually hoping to do is to reduce the charge.”

She said the privilege speeches of Estrada and Revilla were extraordinary as they were commenting on a legal issue pending on a public official. “Normally you depend on your affidavit or counter-affidavit to defend yourself,” she said.

She said plunder and malversation are the same action of stealing public funds for private use except the funds involved in plunder is much bigger.

Santiago said if the three senators will be charged with plunder before the Sandiganbayan, they will be suspended from their posts.

“They can no longer report to the Senate. Almost immediately, they will be denied bail unless they can show that the evidence against them is not strong,” she said. — KBK, GMA News