Marinduque gov Reyes wants arraignment put off

MANILA, Philippines—Marinduque Gov. Carmencita Reyes has asked the Sandiganbayan to defer the court proceedings and her arraignment for graft while the petition for review of the case remains pending with the Supreme Court.

In an Omnibus Motion, Reyes, a former representative of Marinduque, said that proceeding with her arraignment would render the petition before the high court moot and academic.

She assured the antigraft court’s Second Division that the motion was not meant to delay the court proceedings on the case.

The court has set her arraignment of the case for Jan. 14 but Reyes wanted it to cancel and reset it to some other date after the petition shall have been resolved.

Reyes had been criminally charged in connection with the P728-million fertilizer fund scam in 2004 during the term of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The amount involved was P5 million, part of the P728-million fertilizer fund released by the Department of Budget and Management, for the purchase of a shredding machine and other pieces of equipment allegedly without public bidding.

The cases against Reyes were filed on March 18, 2011.

Reyes had denied involvement in the 2004 fertilizer fund scam, saying the province did not receive the P5 million fund allegedly used for the purchase of farm equipment.