Sandiganbayan affirms ruling: Napoles kids to face trial

The Third Division of the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan on Friday upheld its earlier ruling finding probable cause to proceed with the trial of the graft charges against two children of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles.

 

In an eight-page resolution, the Third Division denied the urgent motion for reconsideration filed last month by Napoles' children Jo Christine and James Christopher asking the court to overturn its September 29 ruling finding probable cause to proceed with their trial.

 

The siblings are co-accused in the 15 counts of graft filed by the Office of the Ombudsman before the Third Division against Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce-Enrile in connection with the alleged multibillion-peso pork barrel fund scam.

 

"Wherefore, premises considered, accused Jo Christine and James Christopher Napoles' urgent motion for reconsideration is denied for lack of merit," Third Division Clerk of Court Atty. Dennis Pulma said, reading from the resolution.

 

In their motion for reconsideration, the Napoles siblings said the graft charges against them should be dismissed for lack of merit.

 

The siblings said the court erred in its September 29 ruling as the decision was allegedly based solely on the testimonies of whistleblowers Benhur Luy, Merlina Suñas and Marina Sula, who were described in the motion as “polluted sources” given their alleged participation in the scam.

 

The motion also said there was no evidence supporting the claims of the witnesses that Jo Christine and James Christopher were involved in forging of signatures and manufacturing of fraudulent documents for the transfer of the the Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) of Enrile to the fake non-government organizations (NGOs) allegedly owned by their mother.

 

The motion likewise said that there was no evidence proving that Enrile’s PDAF went to the accounts of Napoles’ JLN Corporation and Jo Chris Trading.

 

However, in its ruling, the court said Jo Christine and James Christopher's arguments are "devoid of merit" and "premature".

 

"To begin with, it is premature to discuss the issue regarding the credibility of the whistleblowers. The issue as to whether these prosecution witnesses are telling the truth is best ventilated during the trial of the case," the resolution said.

 

"Also, whether the accused-movants faked documents and signatures subject matter of these cases or whether they conspired with the other accused are clearly factual matters that should be threshed out during the trial of the present cases," the resolution added.

 

In a separate ruling also issued on Friday, the Third Division likewise denied the motions for reconsideration to dismiss case separately filed by seven other co-accused of Enrile in the graft cases, namely: Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Undersecretary Mario Relampagos and DBM employees Rosario Nunez, Lalaine Paule and Marilou Bare, former Technology Resource Center head Antonio Ortiz, Napoles' nephew Ronald John Lim and private individual Myla Ogerio.

 

Ortiz and Lim remain at large.

 

Meanwhile, Pulma said the arraignment of Jo Christine and James Christopher as well as the other the five co-accused, which the court earlier deferred pending the resolution of their motions for reconsideration, will now push through on November  19 at 1:30 pm. —NB/KBK, GMA News