The Office of the Ombudsman has rested its case against Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., after the Sandiganbayan (SB) acquitted him for insufficiency of evidence on his remaining 16 graft cases in relation to the pork barrel scam.
The SB First Division voted 3-2 to grant Revilla’s demurrer to evidence, “and we respect its decision,” the agency said in a press release.
“Consistent with the defendant’s constitutional right against double jeopardy, Ombudsman Samuel Martires sets the policy of no longer challenging the dismissal of cases/quashal of information and judgments of acquittal, either through a motion to dismiss, a demurrer to evidence or by a decision, rendered by the trial courts or the Sandiganbayan except when the People was [sic] clearly deprived of due process or there was mistrial,” the Office of the Ombudsman said.
They also explained that a demurrer to evidence is “a motion to dismiss on the ground of insufficiency of evidence. The grant of the court of the demurrer is tantamount to an acquittal because the defendant is cleared of the criminal case and is no longer required to present his evidence.”
In 2014, Revilla was accused of diverting his Priority Development Assistance Fund for the years 2006 to 2009 to non-governmental organizations linked to Janet Napoles, and receiving P224.5 million in kickback in the process, said the agency.
Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the pork barrel scam, was convicted by the SB early this year of graft and malversation in another pork barrel-related case, in a decision released by the court’s First Division on February 5. (OOTO) – jlo
