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Bong Revilla not made to return P124.5 million, claims lawyer

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Trishia Billones, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/news/12/07/20181207-revilla-acquittal-sandiganbayan-md-md2_2.jpg"/><figcaption>Former Senator Ramon &quot;Bong&quot; Revilla Jr. is acquitted by the Sandiganbayan on charges of plunder in connection with the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel scam case. <em>Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA - Former Senator Bong Revilla was not ordered by the Sandiganbayan to return the P124.5 million after he was acquitted of a plunder charge in relation to the funneling of his &quot;pork barrel&quot; into alleged ghost projects, his lawyer said Monday.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/07/18/bong-revilla-cleared-of-plunder-in-pork-barrel-scam-case">Bong Revilla cleared of plunder in pork barrel scam case</a></li></ul><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/focus/12/07/18/read-sandiganbayan-decision-acquitting-bong-revilla-of-plunder">READ: Sandiganbayan decision acquitting Bong Revilla of plunder</a></li></ul><p>Only businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles and Revilla&#x27;s former chief-of-staff Richard Cambe were told to return the said amount to the National Treasury, according to Ramon Esguerra, the former lawmaker&#x27;s counsel.</p><p>The last paragraph of the dispositive portion of the Sandiganbayan&#x27;s decision, after saying Revilla is acquitted but Napoles and Cambe are guilty of plunder, said &quot;pursuant to Article 100 of the Revised Penal Code, accused are held solidarily and jointly liable to return to the National Treasury the amount of One Hundred Twenty-Four Million, Five Hundred Thousand Pesos.&quot;</p><p>But Esguerra said there was a &quot;misreading&quot; of this portion because Article 100 simply stated that &quot;every person found criminally liable for a felony should also be held civilly liable.&quot;</p><p>&quot;If Sen. Bong was not found criminally liable by reason of acquittal, how can he be held civilly liable?&quot; he told ANC&#x27;s Headstart.</p><p>Asked if Revilla won’t return the money, Esguerra said: &quot;No, very clearly.&quot;</p><p>&quot;We only need to consider what the law says, what the decision makes reference to insofar as the earlier discussion were said about his non-criminal liability and the basis is there: no criminal liability, no civil liability,&quot; he said.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><div id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_1_Container"> <ivs-player id="IVS_ABS_Body_Video_1" data-ivs-spid="3001339" data-ivs-key="e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603" data-ivs-vid="1396877" data-ivs-floating="1"></ivs-player> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/iframe-parent.js"></script> <script src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/js/loader.js"></script> </div></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>The Sandiganbayan decision &quot;did not contain a reason explaining directly the civil liability for all excused and this would have been significant because the anti-graft court did not distinguish as to who were the accused,&quot; said former Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te.</p><p>&quot;The dispositive portion, first paragraph names 2 accused. The second paragraph names one accused, and he is described as an accused even if he was acquitted. The third paragraph simply says accused,&quot; he told ANC&#x27;s Early Edition.</p><p>&quot;Given the 2 previous paragraphs, if the court wanted to distinguish it, it could have because it already did earlier. But it only said accused, well apparently it&#x27;s a collective term for all three,&quot; he said.</p><p>Revilla, who is seeking to return to the Senate next year, was cleared of plunder charges due to the prosecution&#x27;s &quot;failure&quot; to prove that he received millions in kickbacks from alleged ghost projects that were funded using his Priority Development Assistance Fund.</p><p>The Sandiganbayan promulgated its decision on Friday, about 4 years since the actor-turned-lawmaker was detained. He still has 16 graft cases pending in connection with the same alleged pork barrel scam.</p>

<p>Former Senator Bong Revilla is not being ordered by the Sandiganbayan to return the P124.5 million after he was acquitted of a plunder charge in relation to the funneling of his "pork barrel" into alleged ghost projects, his lawyer said Monday.</p>

Former Senator Bong Revilla is not being ordered by the Sandiganbayan to return the P124.5 million after he was acquitted of a plunder charge in relation to the funneling of his "pork barrel" into alleged ghost projects, his lawyer said Monday.

Bong Revilla not made to return P124.5 million, claims lawyer

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Bong Revilla not made to return P124.5 million, claims lawyer

Trishia Billones,

ABS-CBN News

Published Dec 10, 2018 10:10 AM PHT

|

Updated Dec 10, 2018 10:22 AM PHT

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ANC

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Bong Revilla

Sandiganbayan

Ramon Esguerra

Janet Lim-Napoles

Richard Cambe

plunder

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