FOR the second time in as many months, the Sandiganbayan denied the bid of Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes to seek outright dismissal of her plunder case in relation to her alleged participation in assisting former Senate President and current presidential legal counsel Juan Ponce Enrile amass P172.83 million in supposed ill-gotten wealth.
The Third Division, in a resolution issued October 17, 2023, denied Reyes’ appeal on the denial of her motion for leave of court to file demurrer to evidence, a challenge to the sufficiency of the prosecution’s evidence against her.
The anti-graft court noted that the defendant simply reiterated the same argument she had earlier raised in her previous motion that was already denied.
“Apart from restating the grounds mentioned in the motion for leave to file demurrer to evidence, no new arguments were raised that would warrant a reversal of the Court’s Resolution dated September 19, 2023,” the Sandiganbayan said.
Reyes was accused of acting in conspiracy with Enrile and private defendants Janet Lim Napoles and John Raymund de Asis to defraud the government of hundreds of millions from the former senator’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or “pork barrel” allocations.
As chief of staff of Enrile, Reyes was accused of helping divert sums into bogus private foundations created by Napoles.
In her latest effort to get her case dismissed, she questioned the basis for the allegation that she conspired with her co-accused and decried partiality on the part of the Sandiganbayan, noting that Enrile was granted leave to file his demurrer to evidence.
The court however noted that Reyes is contradicting her own arguments by raising the issue of partiality.
“While accused Reyes assails the alleged presence of conspiracy in this case, she now asserts the very same concept of conspiracy in her motion for reconsideration to entitle herself to file the intended demurrer to evidence,” the Sandiganbayan pointed out.
With Reyes’ motion and appeal out of the way, the court set the resumption of the presentation of defendant’s evidence on November 7 and 9, 2023 at 2 o’clock in the afternoon and every Tuesdays and Thursdays until trial is terminated.
In Enrile’s case, the court had previously ruled that the former lawmaker’s demurrer to evidence will be resolved jointly with the main decision on the plunder case which necessitates waiting for the rest of the accused to complete their respective presentations of evidence.
