Sandiganbayan pursues graft trial versus Iligan lawmaker Siao

Police patrol cars take up position infront of the Sandiganbayan along Comonwealth Avenue in Quezon City on Monday, July 25, 2016. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

The Sandiganbayan is set to proceed with the graft trial of Iligan City Rep. Frederick Siao for concurring with the city government’s anomalous land lease when he was a councilor in March 2013.

In a 16-page resolution dated Aug. 2, the court’s Third Division denied the motion to quash filed by Siao and another former councilor Michelle Sweet-Booc.

Siao and Sweet-Booc argued that the graft case should not head to trial because the allegations in the Ombudsman’s charge sheet did not constitute the criminal offense.

However, the court rejected this argument saying the accused were raising matters of defense that would be best threshed out in a trial.

“The aforesaid submission of the accused-movants at this stage of proceedings is premature,” read the resolution. “In sum, the Court finds and so holds that the Informations in these cases sufficiently charge an offense.”

Presiding Justice Amparo M. Cabotaje-Tang penned the resolution, with the concurrence of Associate Justices Sarah Jane T. Fernandez and Bernelito R. Fernandez.

Siao and Sweet-Booc’s cases arose from their passage of Resolution No. 13-191 on March 4, 2013, which authorized former Mayor Lawrence Ll. Cruz to extend the city’s lease of seven adjoining parcels of land totaling 20,000 square meters in Barangay Tubod.

The lease, first entered into in August 2004, allegedly did not go through public bidding. The officials of the private contractors, Kiwalan Lumber Company and successor-in-interest Salvatori Development Corp., also belong to the Lluch family, to which Cruz was related.

Siao and Sweet-Booc tried to argue their participation in the 2013 lease extension was limited to passing the city council resolution, which they claimed was “only a mere expression of an opinion or a sentiment and not a law.”

The former councilors also said the renewal of the lease of SDC land for the Iligan Bus and Jeepney Terminal Southbound was exempt from the public bidding requirement.

Citing Section 53, Rule XVI of the 2016 Revised Rules and Regulations of the Government Procurement Reform Act, they claimed the lease of real property for official use only needs to undergo negotiated procurement.

Siao and Sweet-Booc’s coaccused include Cruz, as well as former councilors Ruderic Marco, Moises Dalisay Jr., Ariel Anghay, Bayani Areola, Providencio Abrangan Jr., Riza Jane Magaro, Jose Zalsos, Marlene Young, Michelle Sweet-Booc, and Roy Openiano. CBB