(Eagle News) — Senator Gringo Honasan on Friday refused to enter a plea in the arraignment on the cases filed against him over his alleged misuse of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
The arraignment pushed through despite appeals from Honasan’s counsel, Dennis Manalo, for it to be postponed on the grounds they had a pending omnibus motion before the Sandiganbayan.
In the omnibus motion, Honasan asked the anti-graft court to dismiss the arrest warrant issued against him, dismiss the case filed by the Ombudsman against him, or reset his arraignment.
But the Second Division dismissed the omnibus motion, noting that the five-day period upon receipt of the resolution finding probable cause within which it should have been filed had already lapsed.
“We are not prejudging the case. We just want to follow the rules of procedure,” Second Division chairperson Associate Justice Oscar Herrera Jr. said.
He said Honasan “still enjoys the presumption of innocence.”
“You can proceed with other (legal) remedies after the arraignment,” Herrera noted.
Honasan was charged with two counts of violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for his supposed release of P29.1 million from his PDAF to the National Council of Muslim Filipinos for the implementation of livelihood intended for Muslim communities in selected areas.
This was despite what the Ombudsman said was a fact that NCMF and Focus Development Goals Foundation, Inc. Honasan’s chosen non-government organization-partner, did not comply with procurement regulations.
Honasan is out on bail.