EJERCITO: I will heed court’s order. LYN RILLON
SEN. JOSEPH Victor “JV” Ejercito on Tuesday became the first sitting senator in the new administration to be suspended from office while facing trial on graft charges.
The Sandiganbayan ordered Ejercito’s suspension for 90 days pending litigation of his case involving San Juan City’s use of calamity funds to purchase 20 submachine guns for the city police in 2008 when he was still mayor.
In a resolution, the antigraft court’s Fifth Division granted the prosecution’s July 14 motion to suspend the senator preventively, along with three incumbent officials of San Juan who were similarly indicted―administrator Ranulfo Dacalos, legal officer Romualdo delos Santos and the special assistant to the mayor on documentation and compliance, Lorenza Ching.
Associate Justice Roland Jurado, the division chair who wrote the ruling, dismissed the argument of the accused that “they do not pose a threat to the unimpeded resolution of the case.”
Ejercito, a son of former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, and the three others had argued in a motion that the prosecution had not alleged “any circumstances that show or prove the accused have, in any way, abused their public positions and intimidated any of the witnesses in the case.”
They further stressed the importance of their official functions.
Temporary halt
Ejercito’s suspension, according to the motion, “will cause a halt, albeit temporary, in the progress of his projects and advocacies and will interrupt public service.”
On the other hand, suspending the three city officials “could cause a standstill in the services of the city to the detriment of San Juan City residents,” the pleading read.
The court found no merit in their arguments.
“It is well-settled that preventive suspension under Section 13 of Republic Act No. 3019 is mandatory. It is evident from the very wording of the law,” the resolution said.
That section states that “any public officer against whom any criminal prosecution under a valid information under this act or under the provisions of the Revised Penal Code on bribery is pending in court, shall be suspended from office.”
The court also cited Supreme Court jurisprudence emphasizing the mandatory nature of preventive suspension against public officials facing criminal charges under the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
It was also unimpressed with the assertions of the accused that their suspension could cripple public service.
In Ejercito’s case, it said “there will still remain 23 other senators of the Republic of the Philippines” who could take over his programs and advocacies for job creation, worker protection and peace in Mindanao.
Submachine guns
Ejercito, who served three consecutive terms as mayor from 2001 to 2010, was accused of conspiring with other local officials to tap P2.1 million of the city’s calamity funds to buy the firearms in February 2008.
The city council then passed a resolution authorizing the purchase of three Daewoo K2 submachine guns and 17 Daewoo K1 submachine guns even when San Juan was not facing a calamity at the time, records showed.
Prosecutors said the purchase had been made with haste without “competitive bidding and without any postqualification, bolstered by bid documents bearing dates earlier than the publication of the invitation to bid, showing that an unwarranted benefit, advantage and preference was accorded to the supplier.”
In April, Ejercito and the three officials, along with Rosalinda Marasigan and Danilo Mercado, who were part of the city’s bids and awards committee at the time of the acquisition, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Ejercito, along with a different set of coaccused, including several city councilors, is also on trial on a separate technical malversation charge connected to the firearms deal before the Sandiganbayan Sixth Division. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in early July.
Saddened
While lamenting the court order, Ejercito said he would heed the Sandiganbayan’s order suspending him, even as he maintained his innocence.
“I am truly saddened by the order issued by the Sandiganbayan. The order precludes me from discharging my duties as a duly elected senator while it is hearing the case …,” he said in a statement.
“I wish to make it clear that I respect the order of the court. In the same breath, however, I am fighting this legal battle without delay as deep in my heart I know I did the right thing and that justice in the end will be on my side,” he said.
Asked when he would stop attending Senate sessions and hearings, Ejercito told the Inquirer: “Maybe next week.”
He said he did not regret his assailed act, saying it was his duty to protect his constituents amid a rising crime rate in his city.
“It was my duty to approve the purchase of firearms for our policemen as the crime situation had simply gotten out of hand,” he said in his statement.
In a press conference, Ejercito expressed confidence he would be vindicated in the end.
Manila Mayor Estrada came to the defense of his son, saying he himself used calamity funds for “important and urgent projects” when he was mayor of San Juan.
“I am also doing that. I’ve been getting the help of my friends in the Chinese community to fund my projects,” Estrada said in a statement. With a report from Kristine Felisse Mangunay