De Lima: Gigi Reyes still liable in ‘pork’ scam despite aide’s admission

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Thursday maintained that Senator Juan Ponce Enrile's former chief of staff, lawyer Jessica "Gigi" Reyes, was involved in the alleged pork barrel scam. 

This is despite a court motion from a Enrile's deputy chief of staff, Jose Antonio Evangelista, taking full responsibility for processing the disbursement of Enrile's Priority Development Assistance Fund.

"Probably, that is their (Enrile camp's) strategy. (But) we stand by our evidence. It can't be na hanggang level lang ni Evangelista," said De Lima.

 

Earlier, in a partial motion for reconsideration — prepared by lawyers Edwardson L. Ong and Mercedes Isabel Mayoralgo of Ponce Enrile Reyes & Manalastas Law Offices — Evangelista took full responsibility for processing the disbursement of Enrile's pork barrel allocations, according to a Philippine Daily Inquirer report.

 

Evangelista, however, blamed implementing agencies for allocating the pork barrel funds to alleged bogus non-government organizations, it added.

 

He said this after Reyes, who returned to the Philippines on April 19, told the Office of the Ombudsman that she had no participation in the release of Enrile's pork barrel funds.

 

"These were done by DCOS (deputy chief of staff) Jose Antonio V. Evangelista," said Reyes, in a separate Inquirer report.

 

She added that her signatures on documents related to the releases of Enrile's pork barrel funds were forged.

 

GMA News Online contacted the law firm of Evangelista's lawyers, but the lawyers declined to be interviewed. On the other hand, the Office of the Ombudsman also declined to  release information in connection with the ongoing pork barrel case.

 

The Ombudsman earlier found probable cause to file malversation charges against Evangelista and Reyes for their alleged participation in allocating Enrile's pork barrel funds to questionable NGOs for non-existent projects. It also found probable cause to file plunder charges against Reyes.

 

Enrile and Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr. are facing plunder charges in connection with the supposed scam. — Amanda Fernandez/RSJ, GMA News