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Sandigan junks Floirendo motion to defer arraignment

THE Sandiganbayan’s Sixth Division has denied the motion of Davao Del Norte Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr. asking the court to defer his arraignment and order the Office of the Ombudsman to complete the preliminary investigation on the graft case filed against him by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.

“The court resolves to deny the motion of the accused,” the anti-graft court said in a five-page resolution promulgated April 12, 2018. 

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As a consequence of its ruling, the Sandiganbayan scheduled Floirendo’s arraignment on May 2, 2018.

Alvarez filed the case against Floirendo last year for alleged violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019) in connection with the land deal between the Floirendo-family owned Tagum Agricultural Development Co., Inc. and the Bureau of Corrections.

The Ombudsman indicted Floirendo for graft in September 2017 and denied the solon’s plea for reconsideration.

In justifying his omnibus  motion, Floirendo said, among others, that the Ombudsman had not yet completed the preliminary investigation of the case. 

Floirendo noted he had filed a motion for reconsideration of the Office of the Ombudsman’s order dated December 28, 2017. 

In its Dec. 28, 2017 order, the Ombudsman denied Floirendo’s prayer for reconsideration of the anti-graft body’s Sept. 4, 2017 resolution indicting him for graft and to reopen the case for submission of additional documentary or testimonial evidence.

The Sandiganbayan said that while Floirendo filed an “Omnibus Motion for Leave” asking the court to order the Ombudsman to complete the preliminary investigation, the lawmaker also insisted that he was innocent and that he was denied due process.

It added Floirendo’s “Omnibus Motion for Leave” was a prohibited pleading that shall be denied outright before the scheduled arraignment without need of comment or opposition. 

“Even if the instant motion is not prohibited under the Revised Guidelines, it must nonetheless be denied. There is no need to order the Office of the Ombudsman to complete the preliminary investigation because it has been completed,” the Sandiganbayan said. 

Under The Rules of Procedure of the Office of the Ombudsman, the Sandiganbayan said only one motion for reconsideration or reinvestigation was allowed.

It pointed out that Floirendo filed his motion for reconsideration and/or reinvestigation which the Office of the Ombudsman denied in its Dec. 28. 2017 order.

“With the denial of the accused’s First Motion the preliminary investigation was completed,” the court added.

Similarly, the Sandiganbayan said there was no valid ground for the suspension or deferment of Floirendo’s arraignment. 

In indicting Floirendo, the Ombudsman noted that under the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, a public official was prohibited from directly or indirectly having financial or pecuniary interest in any business, contract, or transaction, where he intervenes or takes part in his official capacity.

The Tadeco-Bucor land deal, which started in 1969, was renewed for another 25 years in 2003 when Floirendo was an incumbent congressman. 

At that time he directly owned 75,000 shares of Tadeco with a subscription cost of P7.5 million. 

The Ombudsman also said Floirendo owned 537,950 shares of Anflo Management and Investment Corp. which in turn owns 4,730,000 shares of Tadeco, amounting to a subscription cost of P473 million. Anflocor is the listed parent company of Tadeco. 

Alvarez earlier filed House Resolution 867 asking for a probe on the Tadeco-Bucor deal for being disadvantageous to the government.

From the time the contract was renewed in 2003 to date, the government has lost around P1.592 billion from the deal based on Alvarez’ estimates that the government is prejudiced by at least P106 to P167 million per year in terms of lease payment for Tadeco’s use of 5,308.36 hectares of Bucor land alone. 

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