SENATOR Joseph Victor Ejercito was acquitted by the Sandiganbayan over the allegedly anomalous use of calamity funds for the purchase of high-powered firearms when he was San Juan City mayor.
In a resolution promulgated Feb. 20, the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division affirmed the acquittal of Ejercito as “there is no clear allegation or discussion of how there may have been grave abuse of discretion on the part of the Court.”
The resolution was penned by acting chairperson Associate Justice Rafael Ragos and concurred in by Associate Justices Reynaldo Cruz and Maria Theresa Mendoza-Arcega.
The court also stressed “there is no need to revisit and discuss them anew.”
It noted the prosecution’s motion for reconsideration “failed to address the crux behind the granting of the demurrer to evidence” against Ejercito.
“Wherefore, the prosecutor’s Motion for Reconsideration is hereby denied,” the court said.
In a motion for reconsideration, the Office of the Special Prosecutor appealed to the anti-graft court to reverse its decision granting Ejercito’s demurrer to evidence, and maintained the Ombudsman proved that Ejercito extended unwarranted benefit to the firearms supplier HK Tactical Defense System Inc.
Based on the graft information, Ombudsman prosecutors said the purchase of the firearms was executed without public bidding and post-qualification, and that the winning bidder provided bid documents bearing dates earlier than the publication of invitation to bid.
The firearms purchased were three units of model K2 cal. 5.56mm sub-machine guns and 17 units of Daewoo model K1 cal. 5.56 mm sub-machine guns.