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By Jomar Canlas, Reporter
THE Office of the Ombudsman is now pushing the
Sandiganbayan 4th Division for the suspension of Samar provincial
governor Milagrosa Tee Tan and four other high-ranking provincial
officials in view of the eight counts of graft charges lodged
against them.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor spearheaded
the filing of the motion, headed by Bureau Director Cornelio Somido
and assistant special prosecutor Jacinto dela Cruz Jr. arguing that
the validity of the charges is now beyond question after the
arraignment of all defendants.
It was argued that preventive suspension of a
public officer for violations of RA 3019 or the Anti-Graft and
Corrupt Practices Act is considered mandatory.
Aside from the lady governor, also covered by
the plea for suspension are Rolando Montejo, administrative officer;
Damiano Conde, treasurer; Romeo Reales, accountant; Maximo Sison,
budget officer; and Numeriano Legaspi., the property inspection
officer.
“With the foregoing, their suspension pending
litigation from any public office that they may be holding is
mandatory pursuant to law and jurisprudence,” the pleading says.
The prosecutors also cited the Supreme Court
jurisprudence under the case of Libanan vs. Sandiganbayan, saying
that “once the information is found to be sufficient in form and
substance, the court is bound to issue an order of suspension as a
matter of course, and there seems to be ‘no ifs and buts about
it’.”
It will be recalled that the Office of the
Ombudsman lodged the cases at the Sandiganbayan in the year 2004
against the accused on the basis of the complaint of Fr. Noel
Labendia, parish priest of the Diocese of Calbayog and founding
leader of Isog
Han Samar Movement, an anti-corruption group in
the province.
The complaint contends that the said government
officers allegedly acted in conspiracy in approving anomalous
purchases of P16.1 million worth of supposed ‘emergency
supplies’ without any public bidding.
It was pointed out that the purchases included
rice, medical items and electric fans earmarked for victims of
typhoon ‘Kidang’ which hit portions of the province on December
4 and 5, 2001.
However, it was later discovered that some of
the purchases were based on requests by municipalities ahead of the
calamity itself.
It was also noted that there were delivery of
hundreds of sacks of rice that were contracted to Wilmart’s Mini
Mart which is not a registered grain supplier in the said province.
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