The Sixth Division of the Sandiganbayan deferred anew the arraignment of Davao Del Norte 2nd District Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr. after the solon filed another motion for reconsideration of the court’s earlier ruling that scheduled the formal reading of the graft charges against him today.
Floirendo is facing charges that Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez filed against him last year for alleged violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019) over the land deal between the Floirendo-family owned Tagum Agricultural Development Co., Inc. and the Bureau of Corrections.
The Davao Del Norte lawmaker was supposed to be arraigned last April 18, 2018 but the anti-graft court reset the proceeding for May 2, 2018. This was based on the court’s five-page resolution dated April 12, 2018, which denied the lawmaker’s plea for the court to direct the Ombudsman to complete the preliminary investigation of the case.
In view of Floirendo’s new motion for reconsideration, the court cancelled today’s arraignment and instead reset it for May 25, 2018, along with the pre-trial of the case.
To prevent another delay, court likewise ordered the lawyers of both parties to submit their pre-trial briefs and joint stipulation of facts on May 22, 2018.
Floirendo, accompanied by his lawyers, appeared before the ant-graft court but left immediately after the proceedings.
The Ombudsman indicted Floirendo for graft in September 2017 and denied the solon's appeal of the ruling.
In his earlier bid to defer his arraignment, Floirendo argued, among others, that the Ombudsman had not yet completed the preliminary investigation of the case.
Floirendo pointed out that he 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 September 4, 2017 resolution indicting him for graft and to reopen the case for submission of additional documentary or testimonial evidence.
However, the Sandiganbayan noted 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 is innocent and that he was denied due process.
According to the court, Floirendo’s “Omnibus Motion for Leave” is 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.
The court stressed that under The Rules of Procedure of the Office of the Ombudsman, only one motion for reconsideration or reinvestigation is allowed.
The Sandiganbayan 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’ First Motion the preliminary investigation was completed,” the court added.
Likewise, the Sandiganbayan said there is 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 is 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.
Likewise, the Ombudsman noted that Floirendo owned 537,950 shares of Anflo Management and Investment Corporation (Anflocor) 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 has also filed House Resolution No. 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’s 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.