Joel Reyes' camp confident of dismissal of pending cases

MANILA, Philippines — The camp of former Palawan Gov. Joel Reyes is confident that his freedom from detention will be for good amid his other pending criminal cases before the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan.

 

“We will do what we can, based on available evidence, to clear Governor Reyes in the two pending cases at the Sandiganbayan,” Reyes' lead counsel Demetrio Custodio said in a text message.

 

After spending more than two years at Puerto Princesa City Jail, Reyes was freed on Friday afternoon as the Court of Appeals ruled that the Puerto Princesa Regional Trial Court Branch 52 erred in its ruling finding probable cause to hold him on trial for a murder case over the killing of journalist and environmentalist Gerry Ortega in January 2011.

 

“In its ruling, the CA said Puerto Princesa RTC Branch 52 is now prohibited from conducting further proceedings of the case,” Custodio said.

 

 

It can be remembered that Joel Reyes and his younger brother former Coron, Palawan Mayor Mario Reyes were implicated in the killing of Ortega who had been critical of the mining activities in the province.

 

But before a warrant of arrest was issued against them by the Puerto Princesa RTC, the brothers left the country in 2012.

 

They were arrested in Phuket, Thailand in September 2015, but the following year, the younger Reyes was allowed by the court to post bail.

While Joel Reyes was released from detention on Friday, he is still facing possible imprisonment of six to eight years as the Third Division of the Sandiganbayan in August last year found him guilty of graft over his alleged anomalous renewal of the permit of a small-scale mining company in 2006 found to have been over-extracting mineral ore in the province.

 

Reyes' motion for reconsideration of the ruling remains pending before the Third Division.

 

“The crime of which he was convicted is bailable. As a matter of general policy pending resolution of the MR, the court allows the accused provisional liberty provided he/she doubles the amount of bond originally required for his/her temporary liberty,” Third Division chairman and Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang said in a text message to reporters Saturday.

 

Custodio said his client had already posted the additional bond of P30,000 on August 29.

 

“We have to await resolution of the MR...before we can assess our chances of a reversal,” he said.

 

He said their camp is prepared to go to the Supreme Court should the MR gets denied by the Sandiganbayan.

 

Custodio said that on August 29, Reyes also posted a total of P1.080 million bail bond earlier set by the Second Division of the Sandiganbayan for his 36 counts of graft filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in February last year.

 

The cases stemmed from P1.534-billion worth of alleged disadvantageous contracts that the provincial government entered into with various private firms in 2008 using proceeds from the Malampaya natural gas project.

 

Reyes posted the bail bond even if he was still in detention at that time over his murder case.

 

“We are confident that we will be able to secure a favorable ruling in the Malampaya cases,” Custodio said.

 

Reyes had earlier pleaded “not guilty” of the cases during his arraignment on September 4.

 

He had earlier maintained that he had no participation in the awarding of the contracts as he was not a member of the provincial Bids and Awards Committee BAC. Reyes said he was not even a signatory to the BAC resolution approving the awarding of the projects to the construction firms.

 

 

Reyes further maintained that he never signed the questioned disbursement vouchers covering the payments to the firms.

 

He was also previously charged with graft over the alleged misuse of P3.25-million fertilizer funds in 2004, but the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division had already dismissed the case with finality citing the “inordinate delay” in the ombudsman's investigation.