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THE Supreme Court has given the Sandiganbayan the go-signal to
proceed with its graft trial against the former head of the
Intramuros Administration.
In a 20-page decision penned by Associate
Justice Alicia Austria-Martinez, the High Court’s Third Division
junked the petition filed by former Intramuros Administrator
Dominador Ferrer, Jr. that questioned his indictment for graft for
entering into lease contracts with private firms which put up
business structures within the centuries-old Intramuros walled
fortress.
Ferrer and his counsel were also “admonished
not to engage further in delaying tactics.”
“Petitioner’s tactics to delay his
arraignment and trial cannot be countenanced. In utter contempt of
the Court’s efforts to expedite all judicial proceedings, he has
filed a petition, which merely raises issues that have long been
resolved with finality. By so doing, petitioner has gone beyond
merely exhausting his available remedies and trodden in the realm of
abusing legal processes,” the High Court said.
Associate Justices Consuelo Ynares-Santiago,
Minita Chico-Nazario and Antonio Eduardo Nachura concurred with
the decision.
Ferrer filed the case seeking to annul
resolutions of the Sandiganbayan Second Division dated July 2, 2003,
which denied him the motion for re-determination of probable cause.
The criminal information against Ferrer was
filed on Jan. 29, 2001, for entering into a transaction on or about
August 20, 1998.
Prosecutors said that Ferrer “acting with
manifest partiality, evident bad faith and gross inexcusable
negligence...criminally gave unwarranted benefits to Offshore
Construction and Development Company, by causing the award of the
lease contracts to the said company.”
The lease areas in Intramuros known as Baluarte
de San Andres, Ravellin de Recolletos, and Baluarte de San Francisco
de Dilao, were awarded without conducting any public bidding as
required under Joint Circular No. 1 dated Sept. 30, 1989.
Ferrer also allowed the construction of new
structures in the said leased areas without any building permit or
clearance required under the Intramuros Charter and the National
Building Code.
On May 19, 2003, before he can be arraigned,
Ferrer filed a motion with the Sandiganbayan invoking the ruling of
the Office of the President (OP), dated Feb 29, 2000, which absolved
him of administrative liability.
The OP and the Presidential Commission on Good
Government reviewed the administrative case filed against Ferrer and
held that the he acted in good faith and within the scope of his
authority.
Ferrer insists the Sandiganbayan should have
dismissed the criminal case filed against him, since the alleged
wrongful acts complained about in the case are the same as those
alleged in the administrative case against him which have been
dismissed.
But the High Court ruled that “the dismissal
of an administrative case does not necessarily bar the filing of a
criminal prosecution for the same or similar acts which were the
subject of the administrative complaint.”
-- William B. Depasupil
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