Joel Reyes’ camp confident of dismissal of pending cases

MANILA — The camp of former Palawan Governor Joel Reyes is confident that his freedom from detention will be for good amid his other pending criminal cases before the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan.

“We will do what we can, based on available evidence, to clear Governor Reyes in the two pending cases at the Sandiganbayan,” Reyes' lead counsel Demetrio Custodio said in a text message.

After spending more than two years at Puerto Princesa City Jail, Reyes was freed on Friday afternoon as the Court of Appeals ruled that the Puerto Princesa Regional Trial Court Branch 52 erred in its ruling finding probable cause to hold him on trial for a murder case over the killing of journalist and environmentalist Gerry Ortega in January 2011.

“In its ruling, the CA said Puerto Princesa RTC Branch 52 is now prohibited from conducting further proceedings of the case,” Custodio said.

It can be remembered that Joel Reyes and his younger brother former Coron, Palawan Mayor Mario Reyes were implicated in the killing of Ortega who had been critical of the mining activities in the province.

But before a warrant of arrest was issued against them by the Puerto Princesa RTC, the brothers left the country in 2012.

They were arrested in Phuket, Thailand in September 2015, but the following year, the younger Reyes was allowed by the court to post bail.

While Joel Reyes was released from detention on Friday, he is still facing possible imprisonment of six to eight years as the Third Division of the Sandiganbayan in August last year found him guilty of graft over his alleged anomalous renewal of the permit of a small-scale mining company in 2006 found to have been overextracting mineral ore in the province.

Reyes' motion for reconsideration of the ruling remains pending before the Third Division.

“The crime of which he was convicted is bailable. As a matter of general policy pending resolution of the MR, the court allows the accused provisional liberty provided he/she doubles the amount of bond originally required for his/her temporary liberty,” Third Division chairman and Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo CabotajeTang said in a text message to reporters Saturday.