Sandiganbayan junks Napoles' bid to dismiss P15-M graft case related to PDAF scam

The Sandiganbayan has denied the bid of businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles to have the court dismiss the graft charges filed against her in connection with the release of the P15-million Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of a lawmaker for implementation of projects that allegedly turned out to be non-existent.

This developed after the anti-graft court's Second Division, in an eight-page Resolution issued this month, dismissed for lack of merit Napoles' Motion For Leave To File Demurrer to Evidence for the graft case involving the PDAF of then Nueva Ecija 3rd District Representative Aurelio Umali.

Similar motions filed by Napoles' co-accused in graft case number SB-19-CRM-0059 namely Renato Manantan and Narcisa Maningding were likewise dismissed.

A demurrer to evidence is a motion to dismiss the case on the ground of insufficiency of evidence presented by the prosecution.

"It is significant to note that grounds raised in the instant motions were mere general allegations that the prosecution's pieces of evidence are insufficient to prove beyond reasonable doubt the elements of violation of Sec. 3(e) of RA No. 3019 as well as their conspiracy in the commission. They have not provided any reason or explanation on how they arrived at such a conclusion," the Sandiganbayan said.

"Such general statements run counter to the requirements under Section 23 of Rule 119 of the Rules of Court which instructs that the motion for leave shall specifically state its ground. The court finds the instant motions for leave to file demurrer to evidence  untenable," the anti-graft court added.

The Sandiganbayan noted that the prosecution presented testimonial evidence and submitted documentary evidence marked as Exhibits "A" to "Z", "AA" to "FF", "KK" to "ZZ", "AAA" to "VVV'', "XXX", "ZZZ" and "GGGG" inclusive of submarkings and submarked documents.

"It must be emphasized that at this point, the Court is not yet passing upon the merits of the case. The incident before us is merely a determination of whether the evidence on record is sufficient to sustain the indictment or support a verdict of guilt and does not lead to a conclusion of the guilt or innocence of the accused," the anti-graft court pointed out.

Likewise, the court cited Section 23, Rule 119 of the Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure which states that "the trial court may dismiss the action on the ground of insufficiency of evidence upon a demurrer to  evidence filed by the accused with or without leave of court."

"Guided by the foregoing rule and jurisprudence, followed by a conscientious examination of the records and all the evidence presented by the prosecution as against the elements of  the  crimes charged  in the Informations, the Court resolves to deny the motions for leave to file demurrer to evidence separately filed by all the accused," the Sandiganbayan said.

"Finding sufficient evidence to sustain the indictment for the crimes charged at this point of the trial, all of the accused now bear the evidentiary burden to controvert the evidence of the prosecution which should properly be made during the presentation of accused's evidence in chief," it added.

Napoles is currently in detention at the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City due to her one plunder and one graft conviction over PDAF misuse cases.

The PDAF, also referred to as "pork barrel", used to be the discretionary fund of lawmakers meant to fund assistance for their constituents.

The said fund, however, was declared illegal by the Supreme Court in 2013, saying such assistance for constituents should be under the Executive department.

The SC, however, only ruled PDAF as illegal after a petition was filed following reports of alleged misuse of the pork barrel funds. —KG, GMA News