Revilla to spend Christmas holidays in detention after Sandiganbayan rejects his motion for bail

Sen. Ramon ‘Bong’ Revilla Jr. with wife Lani Mercado face the public on the night before he surrenders to PNP. Screenshot of Solar News footage.

MANILA — For failure to present strong evidences to prove that the plunder and graft cases he is facing is weak, the Sandiganbayan denied the motion of detained Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. as he expects bleak Christmas.

This after the anti-graft court claims in their decision that they still believed that the prosecution presented strong evidences on the plunder and graft cases against the lawmaker.

This is in connection with his alleged involvement in themulti-billion peso pork barrel fund scam after he allegedly connived by putting some of his pork barrels to the non-existent NGOs which are controlled by Janet Lim Napoles.

“Malamig ang Pasko (Christmas will be cold), but I’m okay,” Revilla told reporters when asked how his Christmas would be like in detention.

Revilla said he was saddened by the denial of his petition for bail but said he remains hopeful that his motion for reconsideration will be granted by the court.

He said he is saddened by the decision but still he believes that justice still prevails in this administration. His camp immediately filed motion for reconsideration.

He believes that the reversal of the decision will come soon.

He said Christmas and New Year’s furlough is not in his mind as he believes the reversal will come.

His colleague Sen. Jinggoy Estrada who is facing the same cases was denied grant of bail by the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division last week.

On Wednesday last week, Revilla filed with the First Division an Omnibus Motion for Reconsideration, saying that the court erred in its decision as the prosecution failed to present any strong evidence that would prove that he directly received commissions from the pork scam.

“With due respect, the Honorable court erred in finding that strong evidence of guilt exists against Senator Revilla for the crime of plunder,” the motion read.

During the hearing, the court gave the prosecution 20 days to comment on Revilla’s MR and the defense 15 days to reply, after which, the motion is deemed submitted for resolution.

Revilla is facing graft and plunder charges for allegedly funneling his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel in exchange for P224.

51-million worth of commissions or kickbacks.