Suspended Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito and three San Juan City officials have asked the Sandiganbayan Sixth Division to hold separate trial proceedings in connection with the anomalous purchase of firearms using calamity funds.
In a three-page motion dated Sept. 13, the officials cited their public positions in seeking an expedited court process, as legal moves by other respondents had delayed the proceedings.
The three San Juan City officials “currently serving important positions in government” were councilors Leonardo Celles and Vincent Rainier Pacheco, and public information officer Grace Pardines.
Former city councilors Andoni Miguel Carballo, Dante Santiago, Francis Keith Peralta, Edgardo Soriano, Jannah Ejercito-Surla, and Joseph Christopher Torralba also joined the incumbents’ plea for a separate and earlier trial.
These respondents wanted their trial to proceed apart from that of former councilors Angelino Mendoza and Rolando Bernardo, and former Vice Mayor Francis Javier Zamora. The three respondents had appealed the denial of their motion to quash the information, which led the court to delay the start of trial to November 2016.