Ombudsman Appeals Bong Revilla's Bail in Flood Control Project Case

Ombudsman prosecutors and two other former officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Bulacan First District Engineering Office have appealed the Sandiganbayan’s decision granting ex-senator Ramon Bong Revilla, Jr. bail amid a pending flood control related case. Lawyer Dennis Pulma, the Clerk of Court of the Sandiganbayan Third Division, confirmed that motions for reconsideration on the Revilla bail petition were filed by the Ombudsman, as well as by accused former DPWH cashier Christina Pineda and engineer Jaypee Mendoza, were already filed in connection with the ghost P92.8-million flood control project in Pandi, Bulacan. A Sandiganbayan inspection conducted by the anti-graft court justices earlier revealed that the project location of the Pandi, Bulacan project has no physical structure even if it has been almost already paid and declared complete. But in granting Revilla’s bail petition last week, the Sandiganbayan said that the prosecution failed to present "an iota of proof" showing that Revilla had either explicitly or implicitly agreed to receive an advance kickback. While the court said that prosecution evidence presented during the bail could suggest that Revilla may have had a clue that contractors would later recover the same funds that was taken from them from the sum appropriated to the project at the most, this was not enough to satisfy the threshold of “strong evidence of guilt.” Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla, in response to court’s decision, said he expected Revilla’s petition for bail to be granted. “Mukhang natrabaho,” Remulla said. (It seems like there are people who worked to secure it.) — BM, GMA News