Amparo Cabotaje-Tang
Janet Lim-Napoles, who stays in jail for previous convictions in reference to the 2013 pork barrel rip-off, mustn’t have been acquitted within the newest case determined by the court docket.
Identical with Lucila “Gigi” Reyes, onetime chief of workers of former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.
This was the competition of Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang, who mentioned that whereas the proof offered towards Enrile, Napoles and Reyes was not robust sufficient for a plunder conviction, the 2 girls ought to have been discovered responsible of corruption of public officers and direct bribery, respectively.
The antigraft court docket’s Particular Third Division on Friday cleared the three accused of prices that they connived in diverting P172.8 million from Enrile’s Precedence Growth Help Fund (PDAF) into Napoles’ bogus nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from 2004 to 2010.
In a 255-page separate opinion, Cabotaje-Tang agreed to their exoneration within the plunder case, however mentioned the prosecution was nonetheless in a position to set up “by a preponderance of proof” that Napoles acquired no less than P365,437,500 from Enrile’s PDAF.
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10 extra years
For this, she mentioned, Napoles ought to have been discovered responsible of corruption of public officers, ordered to return the quantity, and given 10 extra years behind bars.
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“I … agree that accused Reyes and Napoles needs to be acquitted of the crime of plunder on the bottom that the prosecution failed to ascertain that accused Reyes acquired from accused Napoles quantities which reached threshold P50 million set below (Republic Act) No. 7080 or the Plunder Legislation,” Cabotaje-Tang mentioned.
“Nonetheless, I humbly submit that the ponencia (creator) erred in ruling that accused Reyes and Napoles might not be convicted of different crimes on the premise that the variance doctrine finds no utility on this case,” she mentioned.
The Sandiganbayan chief was referring to the primary resolution penned by Affiliate Justice Ronald Moreno, which refuted the dissent by citing the “manifestly inadequate and inconclusive” proof offered by the prosecution.
However in rebuttal, Cabotaje-Tang cited the “legislative historical past of the Plunder Legislation, jurisprudence in addition to the presence of overwhelming proof on file.”
‘Unrebutted testimonies’
She introduced up the testimony given by Susan Garcia, then a Fee on Audit director, who recognized initiatives that have been allegedly funded by 9 particular allotment launch orders from Enrile’s PDAF.
The funding was transferred to 6 Napoles NGOs for initiatives that turned out to be “ghost or fictitious.”
“Unrebutted testimonies from the whistleblower-employees additionally present that upon the specific directions of accused Napoles, her staff solid mission proposals, lists of beneficiaries, accomplishment reviews, receipts, reviews of disbursements, inspection and acceptance reviews and certificates of acceptance to make it seem that the utilization of the PDAF was correctly undertaken when, in reality, no such deliveries have been truly made,” she famous.
However “extra damning to Napoles” was the proof consisting of 36 vouchers that government-owned and -controlled companies issued to the NGOs for the disbursement of P365 million from 2007 to 2010, the justice mentioned, including:
“Based mostly on the aforesaid proof, the prosecution has sufficiently confirmed that accused Napoles dedicated overt and felony acts to implement an illegal scheme to divert the disbursements of the PDAF for her private acquire.”
‘JPE’ in arduous drive
For the Sandiganbayan chief, Napoles ought to have been convicted of corrupting public officers based mostly on the invention of one other sum—P46.39 million—within the each day disbursement reviews (DDRs) discovered within the exterior arduous drive stored by Benhur Luy, Napoles’ cousin and finance officer of her firm, JLN Corp.
It was the whole of the quantities indicated in 5 entries in Luy’s arduous drive that have been labeled “Enrile” or “JPE,” Cabotaje-Tang famous.
One other prosecution witness, Ruby Tuason, the alleged intermediary within the scheme, “explicitly declared that she personally delivered the cash she acquired from Luy in Napoles’ workplace to accused Reyes.”
Tuason served as former President Joseph Estrada’s social secretary.
Reyes additionally signed endorsement letters that designated the implementing authorities companies and Napoles NGOs that needs to be infused with PDAF cash from Enrile, the justice mentioned.
Liaison
“Particularly, as chief of workers of Enrile, Reyes liaised with Tuason and agreed to the proposal of Napoles, by way of Tuason, to endorse bogus NGOs as implementers of the initiatives funded by Enrile’s PDAF.”
The antigraft court docket chief additionally disagreed with Moreno’s nullification of Luy’s DDRs for being mere unsigned photocopies. For Cabotaje-Tang, they have been “equal to the unique DDRs below the most effective proof rule since they’re clearly printouts or outputs readable at sight.”
“Additionally, it’s worthy to notice that (different former JLN staff) testified that Napoles ordered them to shred paperwork pertaining to the transactions of the NGOs, together with the disbursement vouchers,” she mentioned.
Reyes, subsequently, ought to have been convicted of direct bribery on 5 counts and meted a jail time period of as much as 9 years for every rely, she mentioned.
Cabotaje-Tang was named Sandiganbayan presiding justice in 2013, the identical 12 months the PDAF rip-off was uncovered by the Inquirer in a sequence of reviews. She is ready to retire in November. INQ