The Sandiganbayan has cleared Fernando Ramirez, the former driver of Janet Lim Napoles, in the 15 counts of graft case involving former Senate President and now Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile, related to his P172.8-million pork barrel fund.
In a resolution promulgated on Monday, the anti-graft court’s Special Third Division ruled that there was no probable cause to indict Ramirez, who was accused of being the delivery man of alleged kickbacks to Enrile’s former chief of staff, Gigi Reyes, in connection with the crime charged by the Ombudsman against the former senator and his purported cohorts.
“With the foregoing jurisprudential guidelines and another review of the records in these cases, the Court holds that there is no probable cause regarding accused Ramirez in these cases,” the resolution stated.
Ramirez was implicated in the case filed by the Ombudsman in 2014 against Enrile and Reyes for the alleged anomalous use of the former senator’s P172,834,500 Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) from 2004 to 2010.
Along with 15 counts of graft, Enrile and Reyes were also charged with plunder, together with Napoles. However, they were acquitted in October of the previous year due to the prosecution's failure to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Enrile and Reyes were accused of repeatedly receiving kickbacks from Napoles, who allegedly created non-government organizations to implement PDAF-funded projects for some lawmakers, including congressmen and senators. These projects were later found to be ghost or non-existent.
Court records showed that state witnesses, including Benhur Luy, Napoles' former financial officer who later became a whistleblower, testified that a certain Raymund de Asis delivered the commission intended for Enrile to Reyes' home in La Vista, with Ramirez serving as the driver.
In absolving Ramirez, the Sandiganbayan considered the separate opinion of the late Associate Justice Maria Cristina Cornejo — one of the five justices who reviewed the case records. She concluded that while there was probable cause to hold Napoles and her cohorts for trial, this was not the case for Ramirez.
“Ramirez appears to be simply a driver, and according to the records of these cases, had no signatures on any documents related to the operations and/or transactions of JLN Corporation,” the anti-graft court stated.
Furthermore, the Sandiganbayan emphasized that the Ombudsman “failed to sufficiently account for any illegal or conspiratorial acts committed by accused Ramirez.”
“It merely found that Ramirez, along with his other co-respondents (now accused), acted under the direction of Janet Napoles,” the resolution reads.
As a result, the Sandiganbayan ordered that the hold departure order issued against Ramirez be recalled and set aside.