Ruby Tuason testifies against Gigi Reyes at bail hearing

State witness Ruby Tuason returned to the Sandiganbayan on Tuesday to testify against the bail petition of Gigi Reyes, the former chief-of-staff of former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile.

Tuason's appearance at the Third Division is only the second time she has testified in relation to the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam after she appeared in the plunder case of former Senator Jinggoy Estrada at the Fifth Division in 2015.

During the cross-examination by Reyes' counsel Anacleto Diaz, Tuason admitted that PDAF transactions were among her sources of income as she accepted commissions from Enrile and Estrada's projects.

Tuason said she served as the middleman in the PDAF transactions between Reyes, as Enrile's representative, and alleged PDAF scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles from 2007 to 2009.

Tuason added that her late husband introduced her to Napoles in 2004, when the businesswoman offered to give her commissions for Enrile and Estrada's PDAF-funded projects.

"At first she said she would give me commissions for whatever project she would get from them," she recalled.

After two years, Tuason said she met Reyes and pitched the same offer made by Napoles. She said the former Enrile aide was hesitant to accept the offer at first.

Tuason, meanwhile, failed to recall the exact amount of her commissions from Napoles nor the details of which Special Allotment Release Orders were used for the transactions.

"I don't remember," she replied to the Diaz's queries.

Tuason will continue her testimony at the anti-graft court's Third Division on Wednesday.

Reyes is a co-accused of Enrile in his plunder and graft charges stemming from allegations that he amassed P172.8 million from his congressional allotment or pork barrel from 2004 to 2010 by channeling these to Napoles' bogus foundations. — BM, GMA News