The Sandiganbayan has dropped the graft charges filed against 25 Philippine Coast Guard officials involved in the purchase of P68 million worth of office supplies in 2014.
The anti-graft court’s Fourth Division, in a Sept. 6 resolution, said the lack of sufficient evidence to pin down former PCG commandant retired Vice Adm. Rodolfo Isorena and other high ranking officials as acknowledged by the prosecution prompted the court to withdraw the graft charges leveled against them.
Aside from Isorena, charges against the following officials were also dropped:
Commander John Badong Esplana; Captain Joeven Libreja Fabul; Philippine Coast Guard Accounting Head Rogelio Ferrer Caguioa; Commander Wilfred Burgos;
Rear-Admiral Cecil Chen Commander Ferdinand Velasco; Commander George Villareal Ursabia, Jr.; Commander William Ocular Arquero; Commander Jude Thaddeus Mandin Besinga;
Commander Roben Navarro De Guzman; Commander Enrico Efren Acasio Evangelista, Jr.; Captain Angelito Gil; Ensign Mark Franklin Aldea Lim II;
Captain Angel Lobaton IV; Captain Ramon Lopez; Lieutenant Mark Larsen Mariano; Commander William Masinloc Melad; Commander Rommel Supangan; Commander Ivan Endique Roldan; Commander Allen Dalangin;
Captain Christopher Villacorte; Commander Ferdinand Tallera Panganiban; Commodore Aaron Tensuan Reconquista; Commander Joselito Balayanto Quintas.
In 2017, the Ombudsman filed multiple criminal charges against 25 officials of the Philippine Coast Guard for their involvement in the alleged irregular disbursements and procurement of office, hardware, construction supplies, information technology equipment and cellular phone cards worth P68 million in 2014.
Based on the complaints of the Ombudsman, the purchases failed to go through public bidding.
In approving the withdrawal of graft charges against the PCG officials, the court based their decision on a previous Supreme Court ruling that stated that it would be useless to pursue criminal cases based on the same facts and merits of a dismissed administrative case.
“Applying the foregoing jurisprudence to the present criminal cases which were founded on the same set of facts and evidence as in the dismissed administrative cases and considering the Court’s finding of absence of sufficient evidence on record […] the Court resolves to grant the withdrawal of the Informations and Amended Information prayed for by the prosecution,” the anti-graft court said.