Revilla’s camp: it’s ok to pay witness

Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Bong Revilla and Juan Ponce Enrile. Photo by Alex Nuevaespaña / Public Relation and Information Bureau / Wikimedia Commons.

MANILA – Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.’s camp on Wednesday said that the Sandiganbayan is putting too much attention on the fact that they paid a handwriting expert to testify in the bail hearing.

Atty. Raymond Fortun, Revilla’s spokesperson said that there was nothing wrong in paying a professional for his services, adding that Revilla said he did not pay the expert to lie in court.

“This guy has a certain expertise and of course expertise is something you put a premium on. Hindi libre ‘yan (It’s not for free). This guy is using all of his experience for the past 20 plus years to make a determination that may be favorable for you,” Fortun added.

Fortun made the statement at ANC’s Headstart, adding that the prosecution presented nine witnesses during the hearings for the bail petition while they only presented one.

He also said that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) senior document examiner Atty. Desiderio Pagui’s statements were important in showing that the signatures of Revilla in the documents of the Commission on Audit (COA) were all forged.

“The rebuttal is for documents allegedly signed but the signatures are forged. These are not proofs that Senator Revilla was involved in some kind of scheme to use the PDAF in order to obtain monetary benefits for certain individuals,” he said.

“Yes, it was that the witness was paid P200,000 to testify. I find that highly questionable because these justices aren’t operating in a vacuum. They know that if there is an expert witness, you always pay for a service of an expert,” he added.