Sandigan sends Gigi to Bicutan jail

JPE to remain in hospital

MANILA, Philippines - Filipinos remember the detention facility for the 2005 riot that left several Abu Sayyaf terrorists dead. Now the Camp Bagong Diwa police jail in Taguig will count lawyer Jessica “Gigi” Reyes among its inmates.

The Sandiganbayan yesterday ordered Reyes’ transfer to the female detention facility at Camp Bagong Diwa, junking her request that she be held at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center at Camp Crame.

Magistrates of the anti-graft court’s Third Division headed by Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang issued the directive following Tuesday’s hearing, where it was emphasized that the accused, according to the rules, must be detained in a facility under the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).

Sandiganbayan branch clerk of court Dennis Pulma announced that Reyes would be moved to Camp Bagong Diwa. The facility is less crowded than the Quezon City Jail where she was originally ordered detained.

The Taguig jail was among several identified by Chief Inspector Elena Rocamora, warden of the Quezon City Jail Female Dormitory, as alternative detention centers for Reyes. The warden said the QC jail was overcrowded and could not handle a high-value inmate.

Reyes, former chief of staff of Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, has been held at the basement detention or holding cell of the Sandiganbayan in Quezon City since she turned herself in last Friday.

She had asked the anti-graft court to allow her detention at the PNP Custodial Center, but Tang and Associate Justices Samuel Martires and Alex Quiroz denied her request, saying the facility is not for defendants undergoing trial.

The Camp Bagong Diwa jail has been hit by riots in the past.

On March 15, 2005, a riot erupted at the maximum-security compound, leaving 22 Abu Sayyaf members and a policeman dead.

The riot started when notorious Abu Sayyaf bandits Ghalib “Robot” Andang and Alhamser Mantad “Kosovo” Limbong disarmed several jail guards. Several guards were later killed and some inmates were held hostage, prompting police teams to storm the jail and kill the Abu Sayyaf members.

In May 2006, 14 inmates were wounded in a riot between rival jail gangs.

Tension gripped the prison compound anew at Camp Bagong Diwa when inmates at the Bureau of Immigration detention cell threw rocks and other hard objects at the jail guards, which left one inmate wounded on May 18, 2007.

Enrile’s motion

On Enrile’s motion asking that he be detained at the PNP General Hospital (PNPGH) also inside Camp Crame, the Sandiganbayan has directed doctors of the government hospital to examine the senator and submit a report within three days.

For the time being and pending resolution of his motion, the anti-graft court said Enrile may stay at the PNPGH but could be brought to another hospital if an emergency arises or if he needs to undergo procedures using facilities only available in other hospitals.

Enrile, citing his age and medical problems that require him to take 19 kinds of medicine daily, is asking the Sandiganbayan to commit him to the PNPGH.

Ombudsman prosecutors are opposing the request, believing that the senator’s medical condition is being exaggerated, considering that he was able to fulfill his functions as a legislator.

Meanwhile, Reyes, in reports by GMA News and ABS-CBN News quoting her Facebook journal entries, slammed media for alleged inaccurate reporting, particularly on why she cried when she surrendered to the Sandiganbayan last week.

She said she did not cry because of the thought of spending time at the Quezon City Jail but because “I was told I may not be able to see my children and my mother that same night because it was already past office hours.”

Reyes said she never complained of anything and cooperated with Sandiganbayan personnel as she was being processed and booked.

Senator JV Ejercito visited Enrile at his detention room at the PNPGH and sought the advice of the veteran senator in drafting the opposition’s statement to counter the State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Aquino.

“I asked him (Enrile) if we could draft a counter-SONA and he said that it would be okay for the remaining members of the opposition in the Senate to

do so,” Ejercito told journalists after his 45-minute visit.

Ejercito said Enrile advised him and the three remaining members of the Senate opposition to concentrate on the real state of the nation of the country.

“He told me that we should just concentrate on the performance, economic figures so that the people would know the real (score),” said Ejercito.

The opposition usually makes their own counter-SONA days before the actual SONA of the President, set every last Monday of July.

Ejercito said he also consulted Enrile on the next course of action of the opposition senators.

The young senator, however, did not visit his half-brother Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, who is detained at the Custodial Center also in Camp Crame and facing plunder charges at the Sandiganbayan in connection with the pork barrel scam.

Ejercito and Estrada are sons of former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada.

Ejercito said he will visit his brother but he is just waiting for the right time when tension between the siblings subsides. Ejercito and Estrada have not been on good terms.

Their situation has been further aggravated when Ejercito signed the committee report of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, which investigated the pork barrel scam.

“Probably by next week, once I feel that it is already the right time,” said Ejercito on visiting Estrada. “I may bring his favorite kare-kare.”

P-Noy in witness list

Senator Ramon Revilla Jr., who is facing plunder and graft charges for allegedly receiving kickbacks and commissions amounting to P224.7 million from the pork barrel fund scam, wants President Aquino himself to take the witness stand as one of his defense witnesses.

Even former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was listed among the 27 persons that Revilla’s camp wants to present as witnesses once their turn to counter the testimony of prosecution witnesses comes during the trial.

In a pre-trial brief submitted to the Sandiganbayan First Division yesterday, Revilla’s lawyers said they also intend to call Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Commission on Audit (COA) Chairman Grace Pulido-Tan to the witness stand.

Senate President Franklin Drilon or his representative and former budget chief Rolando Andaya Jr. were also listed as defense witnesses.

Revilla’s pre-trial brief said the senator himself also intends to take the witness stand to defend himself from the allegations.

Janet Lim-Napoles, his co-accused for allegedly being the brains behind the pork barrel scam, meanwhile intends to present 16 witnesses, including herself.

Ombudsman prosecutors earlier revealed that they would present more than 41 witnesses to prove their case, including whistle-blowers led by Benhur Luy.

The prosecution panel headed by acting Director Joefferson Toribio said ombudsman probers and COA auditors are also included as witnesses for the prosecution.

Ombudsman lawyers are expected to present a COA auditor as their first witness against Revilla as hearings start today to determine if the senator should be denied bail.

The prosecution’s first witness will appear before the anti-graft court’s First Division chaired by Associate Justice Efren de la Cruz where Napoles is also charged with plunder and graft.

Revilla, who came to the Sandiganbayan yesterday to attend a pre-trial conference, is also expected to attend today’s proceedings.

Revilla, his chief-of-staff Richard Cambe and Napoles are all asking for bail, claiming that the Office of the Ombudsman has a weak case against them.

The senator, currently detained at the PNP Custodial Center, is also opposing a move by the Office of the Ombudsman to have him suspended.

Raps vs former Cebu lawmaker

The ombudsman also affirmed its decision to file charges of graft and malversation of public funds against former Cebu Rep. Clavel Martinez for allegedly misappropriating P15 million of her pork barrel fund allocation in 2002.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales also directed the filing of criminal charges before the Sandiganbayan against former Bogo town mayor Celestino Martinez III, former treasurer Rhett Minguez and accountant Cresencio Verdida, along with executive director Alejandrita Meca, treasurer Paz Radaza, cashier-designate Julieta Quiño and bookkeeper Rhodariza Kilantang of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines (GSP).

The ombudsman said it has filed four criminal cases after affirming the finding of probable cause against Martinez and her fellow respondents in the case who were originally ordered indicted in December 2012.

Case records showed that on Nov. 19, 2001, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Cebu passed Resolution No. 2643-2001 calling the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts of the Philippines-Cebu Council (BSP-CC/GSP-CC) to include in their programs the enforcement of anti-drug campaign to be funded by the 2002 PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) allocation of the lawmaker, who was also president of the GSP-CC from 2000 to 2003.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) released the P15 million on May 13, 2002 in two tranches of P7.5 million each upon written request of Meca to Mayor Martinez, ex-Rep. Martinez’s son.

The GSP-CC deposited the money immediately upon receipt and thereafter prepared the general voucher for withdrawal of the same amount, payable to cash, which was received by ex-Rep. Martinez.

Records show that both transactions neither appeared in the Monthly Financial Report of the GSP-CC nor were they pre-audited by the internal auditor and that the allotment and obligation slips of Bogo were not supported by programs of work or documents showing the related activities of the GSP.

The Office of the Ombudsman also found that “all the elements required in both charges are present and there is no denying that respondents conspired with each other through evident bad faith and gross inexcusable negligence to defraud public funds.”

“Mayor Martinez III, Minguez and Verdida had utterly disregarded the proper procedure in disbursing the PDAF. It cannot be overlooked that by reason of their office and duties, they have control over and are accountable for the funds,” the anti-graft agency said, adding that “they should have demanded for the program of works and/or memorandum of agreement (MOA) showing the activities by the GSP for its anti-drug campaign program, to ensure the legitimacy of all disbursements.”

Graft probers found that only P600,000 of the P15 million was given to GSP-CC while the rest allegedly went to Rep. Martinez, which “gave respondent Martinez unwarranted benefits, consenting and allowing her to take full control of the funds thereafter misappropriating it.” With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Charmie Pagulong