Bong hits ‘premature’ garnishment; JPE, Jinggoy next

MANILA, Philippines - It was premature for prosecutors to move for the garnishment of his assets as the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court has not even issued a ruling on his petition for bail, Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. said yesterday.

“I have not been proven guilty by the Sandiganbayan and yet the lawyers of the ombudsman are now moving heaven and earth to garnish my assets, which are the legitimate fruits of my labor as an action star of more than 20 years,” Revilla said in a statement sent from his detention cell at Camp Crame.

He was reacting to ombudsman prosecutors’ asking the anti-graft court to issue a writ of preliminary attachment against his assets, supposedly to ensure they are intact and ready for recovery in case he is convicted of plunder.

As this developed, sources said ombudsman prosecutors are also preparing to make the same plea before the Sandiganbayan for the alleged ill-gotten wealth of Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada, who are also on trial for plunder.

The three senators are being accused of colluding with businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles in skimming millions of pesos from their Priority Development Assistance Fund.

Revilla expressed suspicion that the move by ombudsman lawyers was meant to cloud the dismal performance on the witness stand of the investigator from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), who failed to prove that his bank accounts include stolen pork funds.

The senator was referring to AMLC investigator and lawyer Leigh Von Santos’ testimony before the anti-graft court that his team examined the cash allegedly received by Revilla’s legislative officer Richard Cambe, the senator’s co-accused in the plunder charge.

When lawyer Michael Ancheta, Cambe’s counsel, asked Santos if he had banking records to prove that Cambe received cash from Napoles, Santos said he had none.

The senator noted that even star witness Benhur Luy had admitted “that we never met or talked to each other, and that he never transacted business with me.” 

“The cross examination on attorney Santos clearly showed that the prosecution has no evidence that will show that the deposits in my bank accounts came from Janet Lim-Napoles,” Revilla added.

He said the ombudsman might have realized that its case against him was weak and that he might be eventually allowed to post bail.

“Everyone in the movie industry knows how I make millions of money from one blockbuster movie alone. And in my more than 20 years in showbiz, I can say that the amount of money I am accused of having stolen is quite small compared to my aggregate earnings as an action star,” he said.

In a statement, Revilla also shrugged off the amount of P224.5 million ombudsman lawyers want to garnish from his bank accounts, shares of stocks and other properties listed in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

Revilla pointed to the fact that at the start of the Senate inquiry into the pork barrel scam, he was accused of pocketing P1.2 billion, which was later reduced to P400 million, and later to P224.5 million.

“And when attorney Santos of AMLC testified in open court, he said that only P87 million worth of pork barrel money was given by Benhur Luy,” he said.

“They can’t even agree among themselves in their computation,” he said in Filipino.

He also said he found it suspicious that Senate President Franklin Drilon’s issuance of a 90-day suspension order against them coincided with the filing of the writ of temporary attachment by ombudsman lawyers.

The suspension order, which also covers Cambe, takes effect from Nov. 3 to Jan. 31, 2015.

Enrile, Jinggoy next

Sources, meanwhile, said government lawmakers handling the plunder cases against Enrile and Estrada are also set to ask the Sandiganbayan to issue writs of preliminary attachment against the assets of the two senators to prevent them from stashing them away.

Enrile and Estrada are being accused of pocketing some P172 million and P183 million, respectively, of their pork barrel funds in connivance with Napoles.

Napoles is detained at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City for serious illegal detention. She is also on trial before the Sandiganbayan for plunder and malversation. – With Christina Mendez