It has begun

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor CHERYL CRUZ Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

The Office of the Ombudsman has finally announced the filing of plunder charges in court against Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada over the much-publicized pork barrel fund scam that had been hogging headlines for more than eight months.

The ombudsman has found probable cause to indict the three senators for plunder and multiple counts of graft before the Sandiganbayan for pocketing some P597 million in kickbacks or commissions,  from their Priority Development Assistance Fund. The anti-graft agency also directed the filing of plunder or graft cases against those found to be involved in the scam such as businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles, Enrile’s chief-of-staff Jessica Lucila Reyes, Revilla’s chief-of-staff Richard Cambe, Enrile and Estrada’s alleged representative Ruby Tuason, Estrada’s staff Pauline Labayen, Technology Resource Center director general Dennis Cunanan, and a number of other government officials and employees of non-government organizations.

The announcement came hours after Senator Teofisto Guingona III, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, also announced that his panel has recommended the filing of plunder charges against the three senators in connection with the pork barrel scam.

After all the exposés, denials, useless privilege speeches, drama and posturing, the wheels of justice are finally turning. Our legal system will now determine if the quality of the documentary evidence and the testimonies of witnesses are enough to convict the accused and hold them accountable. This is the proper forum that the guilty often refer to, yet fear, the process that the innocent want to get over with as quickly as possible, and the course of action that those who are truly interested in the truth are excited to finally see starting.

We hope that everyone involved is as excited and as determined to see this process through, so that justice can be served and the Filipino can start believing once again that his country has the advocates who have the will, the support, and the resources to run after and punish the plundering pretenders that have been pillaging this country for generations.*