The Sandiganbayan Seventh Division has dismissed three graft cases against five members of the Cebu City Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) after the prosecution failed to prove their involvement in the alleged violation. In a resolution, the anti-graft court granted the motion to quash filed by Dominic Diño, Janeses Ponce, Leizl Calamba, Conrado Ordesta III, and Lyndon Bernardo Basan, relating to complaints of violating Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019, also known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
Case Details
The case involved the awarding of multi-million-peso contracts for solid waste management in 2021 to three private companies: Jomara Konstruckt Corp., ACM Hauling Services, and ARN Central Waste Management Inc. According to the prosecution, these contracts caused damage to the government and provided undue benefits to the private contractors.
However, the case was dismissed after the court approved the defense's motions to quash, a legal step taken before trial when the criminal information is found defective. The Sandiganbayan found that the prosecution heavily relied on listing violated administrative procurement rules rather than proving criminal intent.
Court Ruling
The court clarified that errors in government procurement procedures do not automatically constitute a criminal violation under RA 3019. During the hearing, the defense proved that procurement guidelines are intended to govern administrative processes and not as penal law. They also emphasized that the prosecution's allegations lacked a clear legal conclusion.
While the prosecution argued that detailed evidence need not be presented at the initial stage of filing the case, claiming that violated procurement rules indicated the manner of the alleged graft and were sufficient to show damage to government funds and undue benefits to contractors, the Sandiganbayan rejected this stance. The court stated that the prosecution failed to meet the constitutional requirement of clearly informing the accused of the nature and cause of the crime they face.
Presumption of Innocence
The court reminded that any ambiguity or deficiency in a criminal case must favor the accused, following the principle of presumption of innocence. "While the amended Informations mentioned the elements of violation of Section 3(e) of RA 3019, the prosecution failed to explicitly indicate the acts and facts how the accused committed the offenses charged," read part of the resolution penned by Associate Justice Pahimna.
Editor's Note
The earlier version of this article erroneously reported that the Sandiganbayan dismissed graft charges against former Cebu City mayor Michael Rama. This error has been corrected with the proper information.
