The decade-old graft trial of former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile suffered another delay after the Sandiganbayan postponed its verdict to 24 October.

The 101-year-old Enrile and alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles attended the promulgation of judgment on Tuesday via Zoom, while the former’s ex-chief of staff, Gigi Reyes, was present in the courtroom along with the other co-accused.

The promulgation was supposed to start at 8:30 a.m., but its postponement was announced by lawyer Dennis Pulma, clerk of the anti-graft court’s Third Division, at almost 10 a.m., citing the need for further deliberations.

Enrile, Reyes, and Napoles are facing 15 counts of graft over the alleged misuse of the ex-senator’s P172.8-million Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), also known as pork barrel funds, during his stint as senator.

Prosec failed to prove guilt

They were absolved of plunder in October last year owing to the prosecution’s failure to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Napoles’ “delivery man,” Fernando Ramirez, was also acquitted by the Sandiganbayan in February due to a lack of probable cause.

Enrile and Reyes were accused of embezzling P172.8 million in public funds from 2004 to 2010, which was channeled to the Napoles-led non-governmental organization.

Napoles, dubbed the “pork barrel queen,” engineered several bogus NGOs to implement the PDAF-funded projects of members of Congress, including Enrile, in exchange for kickbacks.

Investigation by the Ombudsman found that the projects were “ghost” or non-existent. The Ombudsman indicted them for graft and plunder in 2014.

Enrile, along with Senator Jinggoy Estrada and ex-senator Bong Revilla, was among the first lawmakers charged with plunder and graft when the PDAF scandal erupted in mid-2013.

Like Enrile, Estrada and Revilla were also exonerated of plunder, which carries a penalty of reclusion perpetua or 40 years and the forfeiture of the ill-gotten wealth.