Ghost stories

Respect the court decision, Malacañang urged the public after the Sandiganbayan junked the last of the plunder cases filed against the immortal Juan Ponce Enrile, his ex-chief of staff Jessica Reyes and pork barrel scam queen Janet Lim Napoles.

- ANA MARIE PAMINTUAN

The appeal was expected from the Palace, where Enrile, still spry at 101, is the chief legal counsel of the appointing power in the judiciary, President Marcos. How can you be too old and frail for jail without bail, but young and hale enough to continue being on the public payroll, occupying a post right there in the nation’s seat of power?

Being no spring chicken myself, I like Enrile for being a strong argument against ageism. But a key issue in his acquittal by the Sandiganbayan is not the fallacy of ageism, or even the legal soundness of the decision. In a criminal case, guilt must be established beyond reasonable doubt — something that the Sandiganbayan says the prosecution failed to do.

Even in the aspect of civil liability, however, where only a “preponderance of evidence” is needed to convict, the Sandiganbayan spared Enrile and Reyes from the joint payment by Napoles and 15 co-defendants of P338 million.

No, the key issue is that the acquittal, 12 years after the pork barrel scandal erupted, is now feared to be a harbinger of the fate of the expected indictments in connection with the trillion-peso looting of public funds in flood control projects alone.

Such fears have persisted even before Enrile’s acquittal, as witnesses who faced congressional probes could not provide testimony that lawmakers implicated in the scandal were direct recipients of dirty money.

No one signs or even affixes a thumbprint to incriminating documents in this country. (Except Joseph Estrada, who signed incriminating bank documents as “Jose Velarde” in front of witnesses.)

Even those shockingly huge piles of cash that a government bank allowed to be withdrawn need a solid trail leading to the supposed recipients. Witnesses said the suitcases of cash were handed over to the aides of lawmakers.