JOSE Sumalpong, chief-of-staff of former Masbate governor and congresswoman Rizalina Seachon-Lanete, will remain in jail after the Sandiganbayan denied his latest petition asking to be released on bail.
The anti-graft court’s Fourth Division, in a resolution promulgated last July 19, held that additional evidence presented by the prosecution bolstered the government’s plunder case against the grant of bail.
Associate Justice Lorifel Lacap Pahimna penned the 21-page resolution affirming the October 30, 2019 ruling that denied Sumalpong’s original petition for bail. Associate Justices Michael Frederick L. Musngi and Juliet M. Manalo-San Gaspar concurred.
Sumalpong and Lanete were accused of conspiring with businesswoman Janet Napoles and her long-time employee John Raymond de Asis in fraudulent transactions involving the former lawmaker’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or “pork barrel” allocations.
The Office of the Ombudsman said Lanete received P108.4 million in kickbacks or commissions for funneling her PDAF into Napoles’ bogus non-government organization, the Social Development Program for Farmers Foundation Inc. (SDPFFI).
In his second petition for bail filed on June 3, 2024, Sumalpong argued that he deserves to be released on bail since the totality of the prosecution’s evidence was not strong enough to establish allegations of his participation in rechanneling Lanete’s PDAF into the Napoles NGO.
In addition, he said the testimonies of former Napoles employees who turned state witnesses were not worthy of belief, saying they were tainted themselves by their admission of working for the NGO and helping fabricate documents for the liquidation of government funds.
He likewise invoked the Sandiganbayan’s pronouncement that the prosecution’s evidence in the bail hearings was weak, resulting in the grant of bail to Lanete and Napoles.
The Sandiganbayan, however, said the situation has changed between the conclusion of the bail hearings in 2016 and Sumalpong’s first bail request in 2019 and his most recent petition last June 3, 2024.
It pointed out that in a resolution dated October 11, 2023, the Supreme Court allowed the admission of 18 previously excluded pieces of evidence from the daily disbursement records (DDRs) of prosecution star witness Benhur Luy concerning 49 entries of various sums paid to Lanete and Sumalpong from 2006 to 2010 ranging from P100,000 to P6.5 million.
“The Court considers the additional evidence as compelling subsequent development in the computation of the ill-gotten wealth. As such, the threshold amount for the case of Plunder was reached,” the Sandiganbayan said.
It also highlighted the testimony of Luy that cash payout and cash transfers were made to Lanete through Sumalpong, who would personally appear at the office of the JLN Corporation or would ask that the commissions be deposited into his account at the Metrobank Fairview branch.
In denying the second bail petition filed by Sumalpong, the court said it weighed all the evidence presented, not only during the previous bail hearings but the entirety of the records.
“The instant petition holds no water. Contrary to the assertions of accused Sumalpong, the release on bail by accused Lanete and Napoles is not a new development in the instant case,” it added.
