Sandiganbayan acquits Oroquieta vice mayor

A week after ordering his suspension, the Sandiganbayan has acquitted Oroquieta City Vice Mayor Lemuel Meyrick Acosta of graft charges for purchasing spare parts for P36,800.01 from his own mother’s company.

In a 16-page resolution, the court’s Seventh Division granted Acosta’s demurrer and ruled the prosecution’s evidence insufficient to convict him for four counts of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The law prohibits officials from having an interest in government transactions involving their offices.

Acosta was accused of favoring H&Y General Merchandise, owned by his mother, Yolanda, in four transactions from March 2004 to February 2005.

But the court said the Ombudsman had failed to prove Acosta’s actual intervention in the transactions, saying that signing the disbursement vouchers and other procurement documents “hardly” met the criteria set by the graft law. —Vince F. Nonato