News Briefs: May 11, 2019

Sandiganbayan acquits 2 ex-BFP officials of graft

The Sandiganbayan third division has acquitted former Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Chief Supt. Rolando M. Bandilla Jr. and Chief

Insp. Jhufel M. Brañanola of graft charges in relation to  a contested insurance claim related to a fire in Bulacan in 2008. Bandilla and Brañanola were charged with graft, after they reversed two BFP Final Investigation Reports of the said fire, to allegedly favor Malayan Insurance Company Inc. The original complainant in the case, Emma Concepcion Lin, owned the cluster of warehouses which were subject of the fire incident. She alleged, through the prosecution, that the issuance of a third investigation report which concluded that the fire was accidental and of undetermined origin, blocked her legitimate insurance claims. However, Bandilla, in his testimony, said the findings in the investigation report “merited a reinvestigation” because there were lapses in the procedural aspect and other steps in the conduct of the investigation. Malayan Insurance also requested a reinvestigation on the same grounds. The court, in its decision, said Bandilla did not act in bad faith, and that he “was well within his duty to order a reinvestigation of the subject fire.”—PATRICIA DENISE M. CHIU

DOH: Police probing fatal shooting at mental hospital

The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday said a police investigation was ongoing following the shooting incident that killed three people at the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) in Mandaluyong. “We are saddened by the tragic event that unfolded at the National Center for Mental Health and we offer our condolences to the family of the victims,” the DOH said in a statement.  In a report submitted to Police Brig. Gen. Christopher Tambungan, Eastern Police District director, an old man shot to death his wife and grandson—a patient at Ward 1 of NCMH—inside the center’s visitors area around 2:43 p.m. on Thursday.  According to witnesses, the man was having a heated argument with his wife, when he suddenly pulled out a gun and shot her and their grandson.  His grandson died on the spot, while hospital employees tried to save the woman.  She was, however, pronounced dead two hours later.   The man then shot and killed himself, police said.—MARIEJO S. RAMOS

Former Pagcor chair acquitted of perjury in SALN case

The Sandiganbayan third division has acquitted former Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) chair Efraim Genuino of his four perjury charges. In a decision on Friday, the antigraft court ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he was remiss in filing his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).  Genuino earlier faced perjury charges for allegedly misrepresenting his assets in his SALN, from 2003 to 2006.  Based on the information charge sheet submitted by the Office of the Ombudsman, Genuino allegedly failed to disclose several properties in Makati City, Muntinlupa and Laguna.—PATRICIA DENISE M. CHIU