Sandigan sets trial for 14 in Malampaya scam

The Sandiganbayan will hold a trial against 14 defendants implicated in the anomalous implementation of infrastructure projects funded by the Palawan government’s share of royalties from the Malampaya gas field.

In five separate resolutions, the court’s Second Division denied the motions seeking the dismissal of their graft and falsification cases on jurisdictional grounds.

Three of the defendants who moved for the quashal of their cases were midlevel government employees: senior technical audit specialist Ronelo del Socorro and provincial resident engineers Romeo Llacuna and Bernard Zambales.

They claimed the Sandiganbayan lost jurisdiction over their cases after provincial engineer Charlie Factor — who racked up 133 out of the 159 charges filed by the Office of the Ombudsman — died on March 18 after battling pancreatic cancer.

They argued that in their specific cases, the remaining defendants fell below the Sandiganbayan’s coverage of officials with a salary grade of 27 or higher.

The court said this was incorrect because the criminal proceedings already began when the Ombudsman filed the charges on Feb. 24, weeks before Factor died. It added that it acquired jurisdiction over the three when it granted their motion to reduce bail on March 6.

Factor’s death does not extinguish the criminal liability of his coaccused, the resolution stated.

Del Socorro and Llacuna were accused of fabricating the Commission on Audit inspection report and work accomplishment reports for the San Vicente Airport Development Project. They allegedly stated that the project was 58.36 percent complete during ocular inspection, when it was only 8.8 percent finished.

Zambales was charged for his role in allegedly certifying the 100-percent completion of a daycare center and a school building package in southern Palawan, when they were only 97 percent and 82 percent finished at the time.

The other defendants who were unsuccessful in their attempt to avoid trial composed of various private contractors engaged by the provincial government under former Gov. Mario Joel Reyes.

Abelardo Salazar of A.L. Salazar Construction Inc., who faces two criminal cases, argued that he could not be charged with graft because the case information failed to state how he “conspired and confederated” with the provincial government officials to misuse the funds.

Meanwhile, Teodorico and Bella Tiotangco of BCT Trading and Construction, the private defendants who face the highest number of criminal charges at 25 each, tried to invoke the alleged inordinate delay in the Ombudsman’s preliminary investigation into the case.

Fernando and Rebecca Tiotangco (three charges each), Lorenzo Leoncio (nine), Ulysses Consebido (eight), Dennis Sandil (six), Prospero Gabayan Jr. (one), Armando Lustre Jr. (one) and Jesus Tan (one) also raised the same argument.

Reyes himself faces 36 criminal charges for allegedly violating the Government Procurement Reform Act and entering into disadvantageous contracts that do not provide for the payment of liquidated damages in case of project delays.