Enrile

 In 2004 to 2010 or thereabout, in the Philippines, and within this

Honorable Court’s jurisdiction, above-named accused JUAN PONCE
ENRILE, then a Philippine Senator, JESSICA LUCILA G. REYES, then
Chief of Staff of Senator Enrile’s Office, both public officers,
committing the offense in relation to their respective offices,
conspiring with one another and with JANET LIM NAPOLES, RONALD
JOHN LIM, and JOHN RAYMUND DE ASIS, did then and there
willfully, unlawfully, and criminally amass, accumulate, and/or
acquire ill-gotten wealth amounting to at least ONE HUNDRED
SEVENTY TWO MILLION EIGHT HUNDRED THIRTY FOUR THOUSAND
FIVE HUNDRED PESOS (Php172,834,500.00) through a combination
or series of overt criminal acts
 On July 10, 2014, Enrile filed a motion for bill of
particulars8 before the Sandiganbayan.
 On July 11, 2014, Enrile was brought to the Sandiganbayan
pursuant to the Sandiganbayan’s order and his motion for bill of
particulars was called for hearing. Atty. Estelito Mendoza (Atty.
Mendoza), Enrile’s counsel, argued the motion orally. Thereafter,
Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice (PJ) Amparo Cabotaje-Tang
(Cabotaje-Tang), declared a “10-minute recess” to deliberate on the
motion. When the court session resumed, PJ Cabotaje-Tang
announced the Court’s denial of Enrile’s motion for bill of
particulars essentially on the following grounds:
o the details that Enrile desires are “substantial
reiterations” of the arguments he raised in his
supplemental opposition to the issuance of warrant of
arrest and for dismissal of information; and
o the details sought are evidentiary in nature and are best
ventilated during trial.
 A motion for reconsideration was filed by Enrile’s camp. This was
denied by the Sandiganbayan
 Enrile claims in this petition that the Sandiganbayan acted with
grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction
when it denied his motion for bill of particulars despite the
ambiguity and insufficiency of the Information filed against him.
Enrile maintains that the denial was a serious violation of his
constitutional right to be informed of the nature and cause of the
accusation against him. Enrile further alleges that he was left to
speculate on what his specific participation in the crime of plunder
had been. He posits that the Information should have stated the
details of the particular acts that allegedly constituted the imputed
series or combination of overt acts that led to the charge of plunder.
Allegations of Information Details Desired

“x x x accused JUAN PONCE a. Who among the accused acquired

ENRILE, then a Philippine the alleged “ill-gotten wealth
Senator, JESSICA LUCILA G. amounting to at least ONE HUNDRED
REYES, then Chief of Staff of SEVENTY TWO MILLION EIGHT
Senator Enrile’s Office, both HUNDRED THIRTY FOUR THOUSAND
public officers, committing the FIVE HUNDRED PESOS
offense in relation to their (Php172,834,500.00)”? One of them,
respective offices, conspiring two of them or all of them? Kindly
with one another and with specify.
JANET LIM NAPOLES, RONALD
JOHN LIM, and JOHN RAYMUND
DE ASIS, did then and there
willfully, unlawfully, and
criminally amass, accumulate,
and/or acquire ill-gotten wealth
amounting to at least ONE
HUNDRED SEVENTY TWO
MILLION EIGHT HUNDRED
THIRTY FOUR THOUSAND FIVE
HUNDRED PESOS
(Php172,834,500.00) through a
combination or series of overt
acts, x x x.”

b. The allegation “through a

combination or series of overt criminal
acts” is a conclusion of fact or of law.
What are the particular overt acts
which constitute the “combination”?
What are the particular overt acts
which constitute the “series”? Who
committed those acts?

x x x by repeatedly receiving a. What was “repeatedly” received? If

from NAPOLES and/or her sums of money, the particular amount.
representatives LIM, DE ASIS, If on several occasions and in different
and others, kickbacks or amounts, specify the amount on each
commissions under the following occasion and the corresponding date of
circumstances: before, during receipt.
and/or after the project
identification, NAPOLES gave,
and ENRILE and/or REYES
received, a percentage of the
cost of a project to be funded
from ENRILE’S Priority
Development Assistance Fund
(PDAF), in consideration of
ENRILE’S endorsement, directly
or through REYES, to the
appropriate government
agencies, of NAPOLES’ non-
government organizations which
became the recipients and/or
target implementers of
ENRILE’S PDAF projects, which
duly-funded projects turned out
to be ghosts or fictitious, thus
enabling NAPOLES to
misappropriate the PDAF
proceeds for her personal gain;

b. Name the specific person(s) who

delivered the amount of
Php172,834,500.00 and the specific
person(s) who received the amount; or
if not in lump sum, the various
amounts totaling Php172,834,500.00.
x x x Specify particularly the person
who delivered the amount, Napoles or
Lim or De Asis, and who particularly
are “the others.”

c. To whom was the money given? To

Enrile or Reyes? State the amount
given on each occasion, the date when
and the place where the amount was
given.

d. x x x Describe each project allegedly

identified, how, and by whomwas the
project identified, the nature of each
 project, where it is located and the
cost of each project.

e. For each of the years 2004-2010,

under what law or official documentis a
portion of the “Priority Development
Assistance Fund” identified as that of a
member of Congress, in this instance,
as ENRILE’s, to be found? In
what amount for each year is ENRILE’s
Priority Development Assistance Fund?
When, and to whom, did Enrile endorse
the projects in favor of “Napoles non-
government organizations which
became the recipients and/or target
implementers of ENRILE’s PDAF
projects?” NameNapoles non-
government organizations which
became the recipients and/or target
implementers of ENRILE’s PDAF
projects. Who paidNapoles, from
whom did Napoles collect the fund for
the projects which turned out to be
ghosts or fictitious? Who
authorized the payments for each
project?

f. x x x what COA audits or field

investigations were conducted which
validated the findings that each of
Enrile’s PDAF projects in the years
2004-2010 were ghosts or spurious
projects?

x x x by taking undue a. Provide the details of how Enrile

advantage, on several occasions took undue advantage, on several
of their official positions, occasions, of his official positions,
authority, relationships, authority, relationships, connections,
connections, and influence to and influence to unjustly enrich himself
unjustly enrich themselves at at the expense and to the damage and
the expense and to the damage prejudice, of the Filipino people and
and prejudice, of the Filipino the Republic of the Philippines. Was
people and the Republic of the this because
Philippines. he received any money from the
government? From whom and for
what reason did he receive any money
or property from the government
through which he “unjustly enriched
himself”? State the details from whom
each amount was received,
theplace and the time.

Enrile posits that his ‘desired details’ are not evidentiary in nature; they
are material facts that should be clearly alleged in the Information so
that he may be fully informed of the charges against him and be
prepared to meet the issues at the trial.

Enrile adds that the grounds raised in his motion for bill of particulars are
cited in a context different from his opposition to the issuance of a
warrant of arrest. He maintains that the resolution of the probable cause
issue was interlocutory and did “not bar the submission of the same issue
in subsequent proceedings especially in the context of a different
proceeding.”

Issue: WON the request for Bill of Particulars should have been
granted- PARTIALLY
Held:

a. We PARTIALLY GRANT the present petition for certiorari, and SET

ASIDE the Sandiganbayan’s resolutions dated July 11, 2014, which
denied Enrile’s motion for bill of particulars and his motion for
reconsideration of this denial.

b. We DIRECT the People of the Philippines to SUBMIT, within a non-

extendible period of fifteen (15) days from finality of this Decision,
with copy furnished to Enrile, a bill of particulars containing the facts
sought that we herein rule to be material and necessary. The bill of
particulars shall specifically contain the following:

1. The particular overt act/s alleged to constitute the

“combination or series of overt criminal acts” charged in the
Information.
2. A breakdown of the amounts of the “kickbacks or
commissions” allegedly received, stating how the amount of
P172,834,500.00 was arrived at.

3. A brief description of the ‘identified’ projects where kickbacks

or commissions were received.

4. The approximate dates of receipt, “in 2004 to 2010 or

thereabout,” of the alleged kickbacks and commissions from the
identified projects. At the very least, the prosecution should state
the year when the kickbacks and transactions from the identified
projects were received.

5. The name of Napoles’ non-government organizations (NGOs)

which were the alleged “recipients and/or target implementors of
Enrile’s PDAF projects.”

6. The government agencies to whom Enrile allegedly endorsed

Napoles’ NGOs. The particular person/s in each government
agency who facilitated the transactions need not be named as a
particular.
All particulars prayed for that are not included in the above are hereby
denied.

Ratio:
 In general, a bill of particulars is the further specification of
the charges or claims in an action, which an accused may avail
of by motion before arraignment, to enable him to properly plead
and prepare for trial. In civil proceedings, a bill of particulars has
been defined as a complementary procedural document consisting of
an amplification or more particularized outline of a pleading, and is
in the nature of a more specific allegation of the facts recited in the
pleading.47 The purpose of a motion for bill of particulars in civil
cases is to enable a party to prepare his responsive
pleading properly. In criminal cases, a bill of particulars details
items or specific conduct not recited in the Information but
nonetheless pertain to or are included in the crime charged. Its
purpose is to enable an accused: to know the theory of the
government’s case;48 to prepare his defense and to avoid surprise at
the trial; to plead his acquittal or conviction in bar of another
prosecution for the same offense; and to compel the prosecution to
observe certain limitations in offering evidence.49redarclaw
 The rule requires the information to describe the offense with
sufficient particularity to apprise the accused of the crime charged
with and to enable the court to pronounce judgment. The
particularity must be such that persons of ordinary
intelligence may immediately know what the Information
means.50redarclaw
 The general function of a bill of particulars, whether in civil or
criminal proceedings, is to guard against surprises during trial.
It is not the function of the bill to furnish the accused with the
evidence of the prosecution.
 When, allegations in an Information are vague or indefinite, the
remedy of the accused is not a motion to quash, but a motion for a
bill of particulars.
 The purpose of a bill of particulars is to supply vague facts or
allegations in the complaint or information to enable the accused to
properly plead and prepare for trial. It presupposes a valid
Information, one that presents all the elements of the crime
charged, albeit under vague terms. Notably, the specifications
that a bill of particulars may supply are only formal amendments to
the complaint or Information.
 It is beyond cavil that a defendant has a basic and fundamental
right to be informed of the charges against him so that he will be
able to prepare a defense. Hence the courts must exercise careful
surveillance to ensure that a defendant is not deprived of this right
by an overzealous prosecutor attempting to protect his case or his
witnesses. Any effort to leave a defendant in ignorance of the
substance of the accusation until the time of trial must be firmly
rebuffed. This is especially so where the indictment itself provides a
paucity of information. In such cases, the court must be vigilant in
safeguarding the defendant's rights to a bill of particulars and to
effective discovery. Should the prosecutor decide to use an
indictment which, although technically sufficient, does not
adequately allow a defendant to properly prepare for trial, he may
well run afoul of the defendant's right to be informed of the
accusations against him.
 Thus, if the Information is lacking, a court should take a liberal
attitude towards its granting69 and order the government to file a bill
of particulars elaborating on the charges. Doubts should be resolved
in favor of granting the bill70 to give full meaning to the accused’s
Constitutionally guaranteed rights.
 Notably, the government cannot put the accused in the position of
disclosing certain overt acts through the Information and
withholding others subsequently discovered, all of which it intends
to prove at the trial. This is the type of surprise a bill of particulars
is designed to avoid.71The accused is entitled to the observance
 of all the rules designated to bring about a fair verdict. This
becomes more relevant in the present case where the crime
charged carries with it the severe penalty of capital
punishment and entails the commission of several predicate
criminal acts involving a great number of transactions spread
over a considerable period of time.
 The Sandiganbayan’s denial of the petitioner’s motion for a
bill of particulars, on the ground that the details sought to be
itemized or specified are all evidentiary – without any
explanation supporting this conclusion – constitutes grave
abuse of discretion.
 As discussed above, some of the desired details are material facts
that must be alleged to enable the petitioner to properly plead and
prepare his defense. The Sandiganbayan should have diligently
sifted through each detail sought to be specified, and made the
necessary determination of whether each detail was an ultimate or
evidentiary fact, particularly after Enrile stated in his Reply that the
“desired details” could not be found in the bundle of documents
marked by the prosecution. We cannot insist or speculate that he is
feigning ignorance of the presence of these desired details; neither
can we put on him the burden of unearthing from these voluminous
documents what the desired details are. The remedy of a bill of
particulars is precisely made available by the Rules to enable an
accused to positively respond and make an intelligent defense.
 Justice Carpio’s reference to the voluminous 144-page
Ombudsman’s resolution (which found probable cause to indict the
petitioner and his co-accused not only of the crime of plunder, but
also for violations of several counts of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt
Practice Act) to justify his argument that Enrile was already aware of
the details he seeks in his motion for a bill of particulars, all the
more strengthens our conclusive position that the Information for
plunder filed against Enrile was ambiguous and glaringly insufficient
to enable him to make a proper plea and to prepare for trial. We
reiterate, to the point of being repetitive, that the purpose of the bill
of particulars in criminal cases is to supply vague facts or allegations
in the complaint or information to enable the accused to properly
plead and prepare for trial.
 Plunder involves intricate predicate criminal acts and numerous
transactions and schemes that span a period of time. Naturally, in
its prosecution, the State possesses an “effective flexibility” of
proving a predicate criminal act or transaction, not originally
contemplated in the Information, but is otherwise included in the
broad statutory definition, in light of subsequently discovered
evidence. The unwarranted use of the flexibility is what the bill of
particulars guards against.