Former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles have been acquitted of 15 graft charges linked to the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam, according to a report by The Philippine STAR.
The Sandiganbayan Third Division released its decision on Friday, October 24, also clearing Enrile’s former chief of staff Gigi Reyes and more than 40 others implicated in the long-running case.
The charges stemmed from the alleged misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), commonly known as the pork barrel, where funds intended for development projects were reportedly funneled to fake non-government organizations tied to Napoles.
The Office of the Ombudsman filed plunder and graft cases against Enrile, Reyes, and Napoles in 2014. Prosecutors accused Enrile of receiving around ₱172 million in kickbacks from his PDAF allocations between 2004 and 2010 through his former aide.
Napoles, often referred to as the alleged “mastermind” of the scheme, has faced multiple convictions and acquittals in related cases. In 2018, she was found guilty of plunder in connection with Senator Bong Revilla’s pork barrel funds. She remains detained for other convictions, including bribery and graft cases tied to different lawmakers.
In July this year, the Sandiganbayan also acquitted Napoles of graft involving the alleged misuse of ₱15 million from another lawmaker’s PDAF. The following month, she was sentenced to up to 55 years in prison over the misuse of ₱7.55 million linked to Davao del Sur Vice Governor Marc Douglas Cagas IV.
Other politicians previously accused in the pork barrel scam include Senator Jinggoy Estrada, who was acquitted of plunder in January but later cleared of bribery charges in August after a successful appeal.
