Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile  
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Enrile tells courts: Decide on plunder case

Tiziana Celine Piatos

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile has urged the courts on Wednesday to decide on his plunder case as he sees no problem with Supreme Court’s decision to let the trial continue.

In an interview at the Batasang Pambansa complex, Enrile was asked about the Supreme Court’s decision to let the Sandiganbayan continue with the plunder trial.

To recall, 13 judges voted to reject Enrile’s petition to dismiss his case.

“Let them decide. Until now, they are not deciding. That’s been over 10 years, and there is no evidence presented to me,” Enrile told reporters. “Not only that, I have many cases, like the coconut levy; they benefited from it. Until now, I do not know what happened to my cases.”

Enrile is one of three senators who have been charged with plunder for their alleged role in the pork barrel scam, while Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. have been found not guilty.

'Let them decide.'

Previously, the Office of the Ombudsman charged Enrile, his former chief of staff Gigi Reyes, Napoles and others with theft in 2014 because of the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam.

They were slapped with cases after providing some of their funds to Napoles’ non-government organizations as part of her pork barrel scam.

After that, Enrile went to the Sandiganbayan Third Division and filed for a bill of particulars — a motion lets the accused ask the prosecution for specific information so that they can get ready for trial.

Even though the anti-graft court turned down Enrile’s request, the Supreme Court overturned its decision on 11 August 2015.