THE Sandiganbayan on Monday cleared pork-barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles of the 16 counts of graft charges in connection with the multimillion-peso Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) projects of Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla, but found her guilty in similar charges involving another lawmaker.
The graft charges, according to the Sandiganbayan’s First Division are “predicate crimes of plunder in People v. Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Jr.”, under which Napoles has a been previously charged and convicted together with Revilla’s former chief of staff Richard Cambe.
The Sandigabayan explained that since the charge of plunder against Revilla, Cambe and Napoles is based on “predicate acts,” which constitute a violation of Section 3 ( e ) of Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Corrupt and Practices Act , “the accused’s liability could no longer be determined in the cases as these offenses were already included in the plunder case for which they were already prosecuted for.”
“This face became even more apparent after the presentation of the same testimonial and documentary evidence in both cases,” the Sandiganbayan declared.
In 2021, Revilla was acquitted by the Sandiganbayan of the same charges in connection with his PDAF funds while Cambe died in prison.
Aside from Napoles, the Sandiganbayan also declared accused Gondelina Amata, Ofelia Ordoñez, Sofia Cruz, Evelyn Sugcang, Francisco Figura, Ma. Rosalinda Lacsamana, Marivic Jover, Consuelo Lilian Espiritu, Victor Roman Cacal and Maria Ninez Guañizo not guilty of the graft charges.
However, the Sandiganbayan declared former deputy director general of the defunct Technology and Livelihood Resource Center (TLRC) Dennis Cunanan and several others guilty of the charges and sentenced to a maximum of eight years of imprisonment.
Guilty in Cagas case
In a separate ruling that was also released on Monday, the Second Division of the anti-graft court found Napoles guilty of two counts of graft and two counts of malversation in connection with the alleged misuse of pork-barrel funds involving former Davao del Sur 1st District Representative Douglas Cagas.
Napoles and several others were ordered to indemnify the government in the amount of P30.72 million for the two counts of graft and two counts of malversation.
Aside from these, the anti-graft court sentenced Napoles to a maximum of 10 years of imprisonment for each count of graft and a maximum of 17 years of imprisonment for each count of malversation.
“Thus, this Court finds that the accused actively connived and conspired to act in that manner to cause the disbursement of Cagas’ PDAF to fake or unaccredited NGOs (non-governmental organizations) to the prejudice of the government,” the ruling stated.
The case against Cagas has been dismissed by the anti-graft court due to his death.
