Former senator and current Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile returns to the Senate as a resource person of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes during the resumption of the hybrid public hearing on legislative measures calling for a review of the provisions of the 1987 Constitution Wednesday, September 21, 2022. ABS-CBN News/file
MANILA — A Department of Budget and Management (DBM) official was questioned by the lawyer of former businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles on Thursday for bringing an original document to the Sandiganbayan 3rd Division without a court order.
Ronnie Garay, Napoles’ legal counsel, called the attention of DBM central records division chief Marissa Santos when she brought with her a 2008 letter Enrile sent to then Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya requesting money from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
Garay cited a rule from the Revised Rules on Evidence, stating that public documents could not be removed from the office where they were kept without a court order.
“I am worried that the public record was removed without any court order,” Garay said, as the anti-graft court continued its graft trial of former senator and current Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile over the PDAF scam.
But Associate Justice Bernelito Fernandez disagreed with Garay.
“But she is the custodian of the document,” Fernandez said.
The court noted that the direct testimony of the witness would be her judicial affidavit testifying on various documents related to the PDAF of Enrile, including Special Allotment Release Orders, Notice of Cash Allocations and other documents.
Enrile, 99, continues to face charges over his alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam, which was first exposed in 2013.
Some P10 billion worth of public funds were supposedly diverted to Napoles, some lawmakers, and government officials.
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