The Sandiganbayan has denied the plea of former Senator Ramon Revilla Jr. to dismiss his plunder case in connection with his alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam.
The anti-graft court’s First Division rejected Revilla’s motion for reconsideration of an earlier resolution in February denying his petition to dismiss his case.
Revilla maintained that the case information failed to guide him of the nature and cause of the allegations against him. The former senator also insisted that the accusations against him failed to constitute the crime of plunder
The court, however, said Revilla’s arguments in his motion were “mere reiteration and rehashed versions” of what were mentioned in his earlier petition.
Revilla, who has been detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame since June 2014, has been accused of allegedly pocketing P224.5 million in kickbacks from his PDAF.
Meanwhile, the Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division has dismissed the graft case filed against former Palawan governor Joel Reyes in connection with the fertilizer fund scam.
“The entire proceedings before the Office of the Ombudsman took close to 12 years, thereby further proving to this Court that there was inordinate delay in this case that violated accused Reyes’ right to speedy disposition of cases,” the court said in its resolution.
Reyes, in his motion, said the court committed an “inordinate delay” in conducting the proceedings of the case.
The fact-finding investigation in the case began on May 24, 2004 but the preliminary investigation ended on Sept. 14, 2016 when the amended case information was filed with the Sandiganbayan.
The court also noted that the proceedings of the case with the Ombudsman had been stalled several times.
Reyes, along with Department of Agriculture officer-in-charge Regional Technical Director Rodolfo Guieb and Regional Executive Director Dennis Araullo, were charged with violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act over the allegedly anomalous procurement of P3.2-million worth of liquid fertilizers from the Masaganang Ani Para sa Magsasaka Foundation Inc. in 2004 without public bidding.