Revilla to court: Revisit ruling on presentation of evidence on Napoles' 'ghost' projects

Former senator Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. has urged the Sandiganbayan to revisit its ruling to allow the presentation of evidence on the alleged fictitious nature of the projects of businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, as part of the trial for his plunder case over the pork barrel scam.

In an 18-page motion for reconsideration, Revilla asked the anti-graft court's First Division to review its earlier resolution which rejected the former senator's bid to block the presentation of evidence as regards Napoles' projects' fictitious nature.

Revilla was accused of pocketing P224.5 million in kickbacks from channeling his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations to Napoles' bogus non-government organizations (NGOs).

Based on the information of the case, Napoles' NGOs "became the recipients and/or target implementors of Revilla Jr.'s PDAF projects, which duly-funded projects turned out to be ghosts or fictitious, thus enabling Napoles to misappropriate the PDAF proceeds to her own personal gain."

Revilla, in his earlier motion, had argued that it is "irrelevant" to present such evidence as the ghost or fictitious projects alleged in the case information pertained only to Napoles' act of misappropriating the proceeds of the former senator's Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to her personal gain.

But the court, in its April 21 resolution, insisted that the presentation of evidence to show the supposed fictitious nature of Napoles' projects is relevant to the facts of the issue.

Revilla, however, contended this ruling in his motion for reconsideration, saying that the court's interpretation "has amended the Information in substance."

He insisted that the fictitious nature of Napoles' NGOs "does not apply to him" and that the businesswoman misappropriated the PDAF funds all by herself.

"After all, the Information, to which the prosecution is limited and bound to prove, has clearly used the words 'thus enabling Napoles to misappropriate the PDAF proceeds to her personal gain,'" his motion read.

But the prosecutors, in their seven-page opposition, argued that Revilla's motion was "unmeritorious," and should be denied.

Like what the court had ruled, the prosecutors insisted that the presentation of such evidence is relevant to the charge against Revilla.

"As alleged in... [the] information, the fictitious nature of these project forms part of the modus operandi encompassed in the... overt criminal acts," the prosecutors said.

"Moreover, proof of the fictitious nature of these PDAF-funded projects tends to establish the probability or improbability of the pattern of repeatedly receiving kickbacks or commissions as... indicative of the overall scheme or conspiracy to commit the crime of Plunder," they added.

Revilla is currently detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

Napoles, meanwhile, has recently been transferred to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City from the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City after she was acquitted from the serious illegal detention case involving her former aide Benhur Luy.

Revilla's plunder trial is scheduled to start on June 1. —KG, GMA News