Sandigan junks 2 more PDAF graft cases vs DBM exec

MANILA, Philippines – The anti-graft court Sandiganbayan dismissed 2 more graft cases against Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos and 3 of his staff over their alleged involvement in the pork barrel fund scam.

In a May 13 resolution made public Thursday, May 14, the Sandiganbayan First Division junked 2 graft cases filed against Relampagos, Rosario Nuñez, Lalaine Paule and Marilou Bare for lack of probable cause.

The resolution said the court asked the Office of the Ombudsman to provide them copies of the Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) identified in the cases. 

The Department of Budget and Management issued SAROs for the release of lawmakers’ Priority Assistance Development Fund (PDAF) to implementing agencies. The SAROs later became the Ombudsman’s basis for determining how many counts of graft would be filed against each of the accused in the PDAF scam.

“After a careful examination of the said SARO, the Court finds that it was signed by [Department of Budget and Management] Secretary Rolando G. Andaya Jr, and that apparently, accused Relampagos, Nuñez, Paule and Bare had no participation therein,” said the resolution.

Relampagos was charged in June with 42 counts of graft before the Sandiganbayan – the most for any government official charged over the alleged misuse of lawmakers’ PDAF. Relampagos was tagged as among the contacts of alleged scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles’ at the DBM who helped fast-track illegal transactions with government.

The court’s First Division, which handles the plunder and graft cases of Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr and his co-accused, had already dismissed 8 graft cases against Relampagos in August 2014 due to the same reason.

On the same day, however, the Third Division upheld 15 graft cases against Relampagos. The Third Division handles the graft cases against Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, where Relampagos and his staff are also co-accused.

Relampagos, who is accused of “causing undue injury to the government,” claimed he signed SAROs only as “substitute signatory” of Andaya. Andaya has not been charged for the PDAF releases he had facilitated. – Rappler.com