The Office of the Ombudsman is seeking the suspension of Muntinlupa City Rep. Rozzano Rufino Biazon and four Department of Budget and Management (DBM) officials pending their trial in connection with the P10-billion pork barrel scam.
In a three-page motion to suspend pendente lite (pending litigation) dated Sept. 19, antigraft prosecutors asked the Sandiganbayan Seventh Division to bar the officials from holding public office for the meantime.
Besides Biazon, prosecutors sought the suspension of former DBM Undersecretary Mario L. Relampagos, former DBM budget specialist Rosario Nuñez, and former DBM administrative assistants Marilou Bare and Lalaine Paule.
The DBM officials are still employed by that agency, the motion said.
The motion cited Section 13 of Republic Act No. 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, which states that incumbent public officers facing “any criminal prosecution under a valid information… shall be suspended from office.”
Since all five had been arraigned on Sept. 6, the prosecutors argued that the validity of the charge sheet was no longer in question.
The motion said suspension must follow as a matter of course.
“Accused’s continued stay in office may frustrate the prosecution of this crime, if not prejudice the cases filed against them,” the motion read, adding that they should be prevented from possibly committing further acts of malfeasance and tampering with the evidence.
Biazon and his co-respondents were indicted for graft and malversation, with the lawmaker also facing a charge of direct bribery. They pleaded not guilty to all the accusations.
Also charged in this case were former Energy Regulatory Commission Chair Zenaida Ducut and alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles.
The case arose from Biazon’s endorsement of P3 million of his Priority Development Assistance Fund allocations, or pork barrel as Muntinlupa representative in 2007 to the Napoles-controlled nongovernment organization Philippine Social Foundation Inc., with the now-defunct Technology Resource Center as the implementing agency.
Biazon was likewise accused of receiving P1.95 million in kickbacks through Ducut, who allegedly acted as his agent.
Biazon was an ally of former President Benigno Aquino III in the Liberal Party. When the controversy erupted in 2013, he resigned from his post as customs commissioner.