Arrest of ex-budget usec ordered

Former Budget Undersecretary for Operations Mario L. Relampagos. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Sandiganbayan has declared former Budget Undersecretary and pork barrel scam defendant Mario Relampagos a “fugitive from justice,” after he failed to return from his trip to the United States on Jan. 1.

The court’s Seventh Division ordered Relampagos’ arrest and the forfeiture of his P280,000 bail bond and P140,000 travel bond.

The antigraft court directed the Department of Foreign Affairs to cancel his passport (No. EC2419992), which was valid until Oct. 14, 2019.

State prosecutors were also ordered to initiate extradition proceedings for the official who was indicted in 313 counts of graft, malversation and malversation through falsification.

The Seventh Division handled Relampagos’ cases in connection with the alleged misuse of Muntinlupa City Rep. Ruffy Biazon’s P3 million in Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocation and former Oriental Mindoro Rep. Rodolfo Valencia’s P6.51 million in PDAF allocation.

PDAF is a pork barrel, or an allocation from the national budget that funds pet projects of lawmakers, which the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional.

Separately, the Second Division also ordered Relampagos arrested because of his failure to attend the Jan. 12 pretrial hearing in the P9.6-million PDAF case of former Ilocos Sur Rep. Salacnib Baterina.

In a manifestation, his lawyers explained that Relampagos called them on Jan. 2, hours after the expiration of his travel authority, to say he could not endure the burden of the “unconscionable” number of his pending cases and the resulting drain on his financial resources.

“Mr. Relampagos explained that he can no longer bear what he perceives as extreme injustice… which has brought and will continue to bring unimaginable burden on his family and himself,” the lawyers said. “According to him, there seems to be no end in sight anymore for his ordeal.”

“He laments that as a result of the persecution suffered, he has lost all trust in the justice system,” read the manifestation filed by the De Guzman Dionido Caga Jucaban and Associates Law Offices.

The law firm said it was still trying to convince Relampagos to come home.

He was permitted by the court to travel to the United States  from Dec. 2 last year to Jan. 1 to attend the annual meeting of The International Consortium on Governmental Financial Management in Washington and to visit his daughter and granddaughters in Las Vegas.

In seeking travel permission, Relampagos said he had “no derogatory record of not keeping a promise, jumping bail and the like or not honoring any orders of this Honorable Court.”

Relampagos’ lawyers, Godofredo de Guzman, Arnold Caga and Christopher John Lao, were ordered to explain why they should not be cited for contempt for failure to comply with the affidavit of undertaking they executed.