Bong Revilla seeks nullification of ‘pork’ raps, reconstitution of Ombudsman panel

Pork barrel fund scam suspect Sen. Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. has once again asked the Supreme Court to stop the plunder case against him, or at least replace the panel of Ombudsman investigators probing him.

 

In his new petition filed Monday, Revilla noted how the Ombudsman in two separate resolutions earlier denied his petition contesting the plunder complaint lodged against him by the National Bureau of Investigation and lawyer Levito Baligod over the alleged misuse of Priority Development Assistance Fund allocations.

 

Revilla said that on May 15, the Ombudsman allegedly "flip-flopped" and issued a joint order now giving the senator access to counter-affidavits, although to only six of 19 counter-affidavits.

 

"(F)rom out of nowhere came the joint order, where the Ombudsman flip-flopped on its rejection of Senator Revilla's request, and all of a sudden, recognized his entitlement to be furnished with the counter-affidavits," read the petition.

 

"However, the Ombudsman has fallen short of fully recognizing Senator Revilla's constitutional and legal right to due process... as it furnished him a copy of only six counter-affidavits," it added.

 

Revilla said the May 15 joint order was issued without his camp filing a new motion seeking access to the counter-affidavits.

 

"This leads to no other conclusion that the special panel attempted, but failed, to rectify its error in denying Senator Revilla's right to due process," Revilla's camp said.

 

"Evidently, the courses of action taken by the Special Panel are clear manifestations of bias, prejudice and partiality against Senator Revilla. Senator Revilla, is, thus, justified in seeking their inhibition in the proceedings a quo," it added, saying the Ombudsman panel that handled the preliminary investigation should be reconstituted.

 

"In the interest of substantial justice and fairness, Senator Revilla pray[s] that the Ombudsman constitute a new panel of investigators to hear and resolve his Omnibus motion, and to conduct the preliminary investigation on the charges against him as he has, with clear reason therefor, lost faith on the impartiality of the present special panel of investigators handling the instant cases," read the petition.

 

Revilla reiterated that he should not end up behind bars in the "clear absence of any evidence that he is guilty."

 

"Senator Revilla could spend time in jail waiting for the criminal proceedings to be concluded, when in fact, in the first place, such criminal proceedings should not have taken place at all," the petition read.

 

The high court was supposed to have conducted oral arguments on Revilla's first petition that was filed last March with the high court contesting the plunder complaints, but the SC eventually cancelled it. 

 

Revilla originally filed a motion with the Ombudsman last January 15 asking it to suspend the preliminary probe on the plunder complaints filed against him by the NBI and Baligod. The Ombudsman, however, junked Revilla's request on January 28.

 

At the time, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales said her office dismissed Revilla's plunder charge against "pork" scam whistleblowers Benhur Luy, Merlina Suñas and Marina Sula "since the three have been admitted to the Department of Justice’s Witness Protection Program."

 

Revilla's motion to suspend the Ombudsman's preliminary investigation on the pork barrel scam was also junked as investigators found "no prejudicial question exists to warrant the suspension."

 

Revilla is facing plunder charges before the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly pocketing over P224 million in kickbacks from the alleged pork barrel scam, supposedly engineered by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, who is being detained over serious illegal detention charges. 

Other senators implicated in the alleged scam include Jinggoy Estrada and Juan Ponce Enrile. — Mark Merueñas/RSJ, GMA News