Mandaue City councilor suspended for graft

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division has ordered the 90-day preventive suspension of Mandaue City Councilor Nerissa Soon-Ruiz in connection with her pending graft cases involving the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam during her term as Cebu representative. Among the charges are 17 counts of graft and 10 counts of malversation through falsification of public documents. Ruiz allegedly selected “suspicious” nongovernment organizations as project partners and did not conduct proper public bidding before awarding the project contracts. —Patricia Denise M. Chiu