Revilla: Ghost PDAF projects irrelevant

MANILA, Philippines - Former senator Ramon Revilla Jr. insisted that some pieces of evidence in the pork scam case are irrelevant and should no longer be presented during his trial for plunder, which is set to start on June 1.

In his 18-page motion for reconsideration filed before the Sandiganbayan First Division last week, Revilla said the Office of the Ombudsman’s evidence and witnesses pertaining to the supposed fictitious nature of non-government organizations (NGOs) allegedly owned by alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles are “irrelevant” to his case.

In its April 21 ruling, the First Division said the prosecution must be allowed to present evidence pertaining to the supposed fictitious nature of the Napoles-linked NGOs as it will also help establish whether there is truth in the prosecution’s allegation that the livelihood and agricultural projects funded by Revilla’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel were “ghosts” or never implemented.

In his motion for reconsideration, however, Revilla maintained that the issue of whether or not his PDAF-funded projects were implemented is immaterial to his case.

Revilla said the amended case information filed by the ombudsman in 2014 alleged that he received P224.512 million in kickbacks from Napoles in exchange for endorsing her NGOs as the beneficiaries of his PDAF.

Revilla said the case information never mentioned that he received the kickbacks for the fake implementation of the projects.

He also said the case information states that it was Napoles who “misappropriated the PDAF proceeds for her personal gain.”