Pangasinan Rep. Espino serves preventive suspension for graft

Former governor now Pangasinan Rep. Amado Espino Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Former governor now Pangasinan Rep. Amado Espino Jr. has agreed to voluntarily serve his preventive suspension for graft over alleged black sand mining in the province.

In a manifestation filed before the Sandiganbayan Sixth Division, Espino said he is voluntarily submitting himself for preventive suspension for a period of 90 days from December 15, 2016 to March 15, 2017, without prejudice to the motion for reconsideration he filed on the court’ s order to preventively suspend him.

He said his voluntary suspension is not an indication of guilt.

READ: Pangasinan Rep. Espino suspended for graft over black sand mining

“As such, Accused voluntarily submits to the preventive suspension imposed by the Sandiganbayan for a period of 90 days to commence on December 15, 2016 until March 15, 2017,” Espino said through his lawyers.

“Such voluntary submission, however, is in no way, an admission of guilt or culpability,” he added.

Espino said he would like to voluntarily serve his suspension even though it pains him to deprive his constituents in Pangasinan of representation in Congress.

“It is worth mentioning that Accused accepts the preventive suspension with a heavy heart as it effectively deprives his constituents of (their) voice in Congress,” he said.

Espino said he would like to serve his preventive suspension and has conveyed the same to Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez “to show his willingness to cooperate with this Honorable Court and abide by the rule of law.”

READ: Alvarez calls for caucus meeting on lawmakers’ graft suspension 

Espino was suspended for a graft charge for allegedly allowing firms to operate illegal black sand mining in the province.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor sought Espino’s preventive suspension, citing Section 13 of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act which states that incumbent public officials being prosecuted under a valid information involving fraud of public funds should be suspended from office.

According to the graft sheet, Espino when he was Pangasinan governor in 2011 issued two permits to Xypher Builders Inc. and Alexandra Mining and Oil Ventures Inc. for the companies to conduct soil remediation and magnetite and mineral extraction in Barangay (village) Sabangan, Lingayen.

Prosecutors accused Espino of authorizing the issuance of mining ore export permit, gratuitous permit, and small scale mining permit to the mining firms even though these were not lawfully entitled to conduct mining activities because these were not registered with the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board.

The mining activities of the companies also allegedly lacked the requisite area clearance from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the prosecutors added.

READ: Pangasinan governor charged with graft over black sand mining

In the case of Xypher, the prosecution alleged that Xypher caused undue injury to government for selling to DH Kingstone Holdings Co. Ltd. export materials to China worth P10.75 million.

On the other hand, Alexandra allegedly did not obtain a business permit from the Lingayen municipal government.

In his motion to dismiss the case, Espino claimed the issuance of a small scale mining permit to Alexandria was not illegal because the purpose of the permit was not to allow a mining activity but to extract black magnetite sand from a lot intended to be built as a golf course.

Espino said the black sand was extracted to allow plants to grow on the supposed golf course.

He said there was nothing irregular in the grant of a gratuitous permit and mineral ore export permit to Xypher because these permits were not technically granted to Xypher but issued to the Pangasinan Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Office.

Espino also said there was no need for the firms to secure a clearance from the MGB because the excavation of black sand was not related to mining.

Espino said that there was no need for Alexandria and Xypher to be accredited because “soil analysis and remediation” did not mean there was construction of any building in the area.

He said there was no need for Alexandria and Xypher to get a business permit because the two firms did not profit from the supposed soil analysis.

In opposing Espino’s motion, the prosecution told the court that the accused was only using the supposed golf project as a ruse to hide that there was illegal mining activity.

READ: State lawyers oppose Pangasinan gov bid to junk black sand mining rap

The prosecution said the mere issuance of a mineral ore export permit to Xypher belied Espino’s denial of the export of black sand to China.

“By allowing Xypher to export the mineral ore… movants in effect allowed the extraction of magnetite black sand from the alleged planned golf course for commercial purpose,” the prosecution said.

The following officials charged with Espino were provincial administrator Rafael Baraan; Provincial Housing and Homesite Regulation officer Alvin Bigay; Xypher board directors Gina Alcazar, Michael Ramirez and Avery Pujol; and Alexandra board directors Emiliano Buenavista, Cesar Detera, Edwin Alcazar, Denise Ann Sia Kho Po, Annlyn Detera, Cynthia Camara, Lolita Bolayog and Glenn Subia. RAM/rga

READ: Ex-Pangasinan Gov Espino pleads not guilty to mining graft raps