Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) – The Sandiganbayan on Friday (September 11) granted Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile’s request to temporarily stop his plunder case trial.
The trial will be delayed until the Supreme Court (SC) renders a final ruling on the senator’s motion for a bill of particulars.
Enrile argued that the Ombudsman has yet to comply with the bill of particulars pending the appeal of the high court ruling.
The court earlier ordered the Ombudsman to give the senator a more detailed account of charges filed against him.
Enrile and his former chief of staff Atty. Gigi Reyes, who are facing plunder and graft charges in connection with the pork barrel controversy, attended the pre-trial conference before the Sandiganbayan.
State prosecutors said Enrile’s trial should continue since there’s no stay order on the proceedings.
The Sandiganbayan, however, favored the arguments of Enrile, who claimed that the charges against him are unclear and that he cannot prepare his defense without the bill of particulars.
The senator is confident on the proceedings of his cases, saying he is a trained trial lawyer himself.
Reyes, Napoles want their plunder cases delayed too
Enrile’s co-accused, Gigi Reyes, and pork scam suspected mastermind Janet Lim Napoles also wanted their trials temporarily halted.
The Sandiganbayan initially denied their request.
The court, however, decided to postpone Reyes and Napoles’ proceedings as well since the prosecution is not prepared to submit a pre-trial brief, which are lists of evidence and witnesses to be presented during the trial.
The prosecution was ordered to pay a P1,000 fine for their failure to submit documents on time.
Reyes and Napoles’ pre-trial hearing was reset on October 27.
