(The Philippine Star)
MANILA, Philippines - His mere presence while millions of pesos in kickbacks from pork barrel projects were changing hands was enough to establish Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile’s part in a conspiracy to steal taxpayers’ money, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said yesterday.
In a statement, Santiago said Enrile can still be pinned down for plunder “to a moral certainty” despite testimony from potential pork barrel scam state witness Ruby Tuason that she had handed over kickbacks only to Enrile’s chief of staff Gigi Reyes and not to him directly.
“It is now obvious that Tuason was covering up for Enrile, so that the entire criminal liability for plunder could be shifted to Reyes alone,” Santiago said.
“That is devious of Tuason, and heartless of Enrile. He is ready to sacrifice Reyes to save himself,” she said.
At the hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee last Thursday on the pork barrel scam, Tuason confessed to having delivered cash directly to Sen. Jinggoy Estrada in several instances but not to Enrile.
But she said that in some of her meetings with Reyes, Enrile would show up to pick up his chief of staff.
Reyes, who is believed to be hiding abroad, is one of the respondents in the plunder and malversation complaint filed against Enrile, Estrada, Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and several others in connection with the pork barrel scam allegedly masterminded by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.
Tuason, former social secretary of Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada when he was president, may be dropped from the list of respondents if the government accepts her application to turn state witness.
Santiago said that during her interpellation of Tuason, she purposely left the potential state witness alone even when the latter was insisting on Enrile’s silence during the meetings.
She said this was to keep Tuason from realizing that she had just revealed an important detail crucial to the conviction of Enrile for plunder.
“On TV and in novels, the hero always makes a big fuss when he scores a point during cross-examination. In reality the trial lawyer prefers to accept the testimony without fuss, so that the witness will not be able to change the damaging testimony in the course of the cross-examination. Then the lawyer pounces on it by emphasizing the damaging testimony only when he submits his final memorandum to the judge,” she said.
In her testimony, Tuason said she remembered seeing Enrile twice at a restaurant in Taguig City while she was dealing with Reyes, but that he never talked to her about his pork barrel, officially called Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF.
According to Tuason, Enrile would arrive late and would either have coffee or just pick up Reyes.
In those occasions, Tuason said she was delivering money to Reyes, representing the kickback of Enrile from the use of his PDAF by Napoles.
“Even assuming for the sake of argument that Enrile was just sitting or drinking coffee or smiling fatuously, his mere presence is sufficient to convince the court to a moral certainty that he was the mastermind pulling the strings of Reyes, so that they could profit from the illicit scam,” Santiago said.
Citing the Revised Penal Code, Santiago noted that “a conspiracy exists when two or more persons come to an agreement concerning the commission of a felony and decide to commit it.”
Covert act
Santiago said the law merely requires the accused to perform an overt act for Enrile to be considered part of conspiracy.
She said the mere fact that the senator was in the same table as the conspirators indicated that he approved of their illicit transaction.
“In the first place, why would a senator go out of his way to pick up his chief of staff?” Santiago asked.
“Human experience teaches that there was no reason for Enrile to be present, unless it was to assure Tuason that he approved of the illegal transaction, and that he authorized his chief of staff to act on his behalf,” she added.
Santiago argued that the only way that the testimony of Tuason would have worked in favor of Enrile was if she had included in it his expressed disapproval of the transaction right there and then.
“If he disapproved, he should have remonstrated against his subordinate, and even slap her silly for dragging his name. But he did not, proving he is guilty by conspiracy,” she said.
Enrile has not commented on Tuason’s testimony before the Blue Ribbon committee chaired by Sen. Teofisto Guingona III.
In an earlier interview, Enrile said Tuason was just a casual acquaintance and that he only met with her once to discuss a possible real estate transaction.
Enrile, who turned 90 on Valentine’s Day, celebrated his birthday with a select group of friends and colleagues at the Mandarin Hotel in Makati City.
Estrada, who would be celebrating his birthday tomorrow, organized the surprise party for Enrile, together with the latter’s daughter Katrina.
Present during the party were Enrile’s wife Cristina, Estrada and wife Loi, Vice President Jejomar Binay, Sen. Vicente Sotto III and his wife Helen Gamboa, Sen. Gregorio Honasan II and wife Jane, Sen. Nancy Binay, and Enrile’s sisters Armida Siguion Reyna and Irma Potenciano.
Sources said Estrada turned emotional while delivering a message for Enrile, whom he described as a great man no matter what the people were saying against him.
At 90, Enrile is the oldest sitting senator in Philippine history.
No polluted witness
At Malacañang, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said they trust the capability of concerned agencies like the Department of Justice and the Office of the Ombudsman in screening potential witnesses.
“Our people deserve to know the truth since what is at issue is the alleged misuse of public funds. – With Aurea Calica and Jose Rodel Clapano
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