Are there prosecutors who can match up to the best defense lawyers money can buy?

In an interview with broadcast talk show host Ted Failon, newly appointed Prosecutor General (PG) Richard Anthony Donayre Fadullon said the filing of charges against senators and House of Representatives members implicated in the flood control scandal should not be rushed, as many civil society groups demand. “Did the Department of Justice (DoJ) accept the affidavits of Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, engineers Henry Alcantara, Bryce Hernandez, and the contractors Discayas? Are they supported by evidence? What’s the point of mentioning a hundred people’s names if you can’t provide what we call proof of their involvement?,” he asked rhetorically in Filipino.

He said there are many details needed, like supplemental affidavits because the DoJ will delve into the details of whatever they brought out during the Senate and House investigations. We cannot rely solely on their stories. If they become state witnesses, they would be immune to criminal liability. The DoJ needs to be very careful as to who is chosen as a state witness.

Take the case of the testimony of personal knowledge of bribery — the delivery of money to a senator. Usec. Bernardo said he himself handed the senator a large sum of money. Another witness said it was he who delivered the money to the senator. If you were with the DoJ, would you like to know who really handed the money to the senator. We need to provide the details there. Where was the money delivered? How? When did that happen? Where did that happen? How did that happen? Which project was that? What did you talk about? How did that conversation start? All these details are not in their affidavits. That’s what we are saying, we need to provide support for our allegations. The DoJ cannot simply grant blanket immunity for all of these witnesses.

Another example, a witness said he delivered boxes or suitcases of money to Zaldy Co.’s hotel-condominium. Such a story can’t serve as basis for immediately charging Zaldy Co in court or in the Sandiganbayan because that story wouldn’t stand on its own, it’s just a story. That’s right. A quantum of evidence is needed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

The discussion won’t end there. If the matter is brought up in court, the defense lawyer will scrutinize every detail about it during the cross-examinations to ascertain the credibility of the witness. It’s not about the witness presenting himself for media purposes and then when the real court battle comes, he can’t stand by what he had said in the televised Congressional hearings.

Fadullon, formerly Officer-in-Charge of the National Prosecution Service (NPS), was recently appointed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. as Prosecutor General in line with the efforts of the administration to advance the criminal justice system. Former Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla expressed his full confidence in the appointment of DoJ’s homegrown prosecutor Fadullon as the new Prosecutor General. He said, “I am extremely confident in your skill, experience and resolve that you are the perfect fit for the title of Prosecutor General capable of upholding the rule of law with fearlessness and utmost integrity.”

Fadullon is a seasoned prosecutor who has served the DoJ for 30 long years, starting his career as Prosecutor II (State Prosecutor I) in April 1994. Prior to his appointment as Prosecutor General, Fadullon was assigned as Senior Deputy State Prosecutor (SDSP) for several years. In terms of his educational background, he completed his undergraduate course of AB Political Science in UP Diliman in 1983 and earned his Law degree in San Beda College in 1987.

As I wrote in my last column, in 2001, Jinggoy Estrada, along with his father Joseph, was accused of plunder for allegedly pocketing P183 million in kickbacks from his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF). But he was acquitted of plunder by the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division because the verified transactions only amounted to P9.875 million, which is way lower than the threshold of P50 million to convict someone of plunder. The Sandiganbayan Special Fifth Division said, “there is reasonable doubt as to (Estrada’s) receiving the bribe as there is no proof of his actual receipt thereof.”

In 2014, Juan Ponce Enrile, former Senate president, was charged with plunder for allegedly amassing P172.8 million in kickbacks or commissions from his pork barrel from 2004 to 2010. In October 2024, the Sandiganbayan dropped the plunder case, saying the prosecution submitted insufficient evidence and failed to show that the kickbacks he allegedly received from his pork barrel when he was a senator reached the minimum P50-million threshold for the crime. It noted that none of the prosecution witnesses testified that they handed the alleged pork barrel kickbacks directly to the accused.

Last month, the Sandiganbayan acquitted the former Senate president and current Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Enrile of his remaining graft charges in the alleged diversion of P172.8 million in public funds linked to the pork barrel scam. The Sandiganbayan concluded that “the prosecution failed to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Also in 2014, the Office of the Ombudsman filed a graft case against Bong Revilla for allegedly getting “kickbacks” amounting to more than P200 million, by allegedly diverting his PDAF to the NGOs of Napoles, in exchange supposedly for a 50% kickback from the projects. He was acquitted in December 2018 after the Sandiganbayan First Division found no single direct piece of evidence to establish he received the rebate, commission, or kickback from his PDAF projects, and that circumstantial evidence was not enough to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

In 2016, the Office of the Ombudsman filed multiple charges of graft, malversation, and violations of banking regulations against Prospero Pichay in relation to the Express Savings Bank, Inc. acquisition. According to then-Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, the government “effectively lost at least P80,003,070.51” in the acquisition. The Sandiganbayan said the conspiracy angle was “only bare and unfounded allegation by the Ombudsman.”

In 2016, Carpio-Morales ordered the dismissal from service of Senator Joel Villanueva after finding him guilty of grave misconduct, serious dishonesty, and conduct prejudicial to the interest of service over his alleged involvement in a P10-million pork barrel scam as the congressional representative of CIBAC party-list. Ironically, CIBAC stands for Citizens’ Battle Against Corruption. But just recently, Ombudsman Remulla found out that his predecessor, Ombudsman Samuel Martires, had reversed Morales’ order. The reversal by Martires effectively cleared Villanueva of all administrative charges.

Observers say the reversal was handled without transparency, as it was not publicly announced and appeared unknown to many, including other government officials. Martires has denied it was a secret decision, stating it was recorded in the Ombudsman’s internal system and the Senate President at the time was furnished a copy.

Maybe Mr. Fadullon can match up with the best defense lawyers the accused senators and House members can buy with their alleged ill-gotten millions. But if he was appointed Prosecutor General, he must have the best experience in prosecution among other prosecutors.

But if he is Prosecutor General, his subordinates must have lesser credentials than him. Also, if justices of the Sandiganbayan can be bought, so can prosecutors. I wonder if any of the high-profile cases dismissed by the Sandiganbayan for lack of evidence were deliberately weakened by the prosecutors.

Senate President Francis Escudero, a lawyer himself with a master’s degree in Laws from Georgetown University, Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Joel Villanueva, former senators Bong Revilla and Nancy Binay, all implicated in the flood control scam, are expected to hire as their defense counsels attorneys near the caliber of the late Estelito Mendoza.

Mr. Mendoza, who died only last March, was dubbed the “defense lawyer of last resort.” He earned that moniker for being the defense lawyer in high-profile, controversial, and cases considered “hopeless” for powerful and rich personalities, like former presidents Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon Revilla, Jr., and Jinggoy Estrada in their respective plunder cases; businessmen and cronies of President Ferdinand E. Marcos, Sr. Lucio Tan, Danding Cojuangco, and Roberto Ongpin. He successfully won those cases, even securing acquittals or favorable reversals in the Supreme Court.

He graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of the Philippines (UP) and earned a Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School.

Former Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co, also implicated in the flood control scandal, has hired as legal counsel Ruy Rondain. Mr. Rondain specializes in civil and corporate litigation, and has extensive experience in Libel Law, white-collar crime, capital offense, graft, and other complex litigation.

He was the defense lawyer in the tax evasion case filed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue against Ang Galing Pinoy Party-list Rep. Mikey Arroyo and his wife Angela in 2011. The case was dismissed by the Court of Tax Appeals in March 2018, ruling that the prosecution failed to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt and that the tax assessment was based on mere presumptions, not actual facts. The acquittal was upheld by the Supreme Court in December 2018.

Mr. Rondain is also the legal counsel of former Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi in the Senate hearing in connection with the buy-in of Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy’s business into the Malampaya consortium.

He graduated from UP with the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1985. He also earned a Master of Laws degree from Cornell University, an Ivy League school like Harvard and Yale.

Given the formidable defense expected to be put up by senators and House members accused of plunder or malversation in connection with the flood control projects, I ask if the prosecutors of the Department of Justice and Office of the Ombudsman are capable of proving beyond reasonable doubt the guilt of those accused as to send them to jail.

Oscar P. Lagman, Jr. has been a keen observer of Philippine politics since the 1950s.