SUMMARY
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
MANILA, Philippines – The Sandiganbayan, the country’s anti-graft court, upheld the graft and malversation of public funds charges against former Makati City mayor Elenita Binay, wife of former vice president Jejomar Binay, and six other respondents.
In a resolution dated November 4, the court’s Second Division denied Binay’s motion seeking leave of court to file demurrers to evidence. This was to challenge the sufficiency of the prosecution’s evidence against them.
“The pending motions for leave to file demurrer to evidence are all without merit. The accused failed to specifically state their grounds for their demurrer to evidence,” the Sandiganbayan said.
The former Makati City officials who were also accused were: Mabel Asunio, Jaime delos Reyes, Conrado Pamintuan, Lilia Nonato, Nestor Aspillaga, and Luz Yamane-Garcia.
In their petition, the defendants said the evidence did not prove that there was guilt beyond reasonable doubt for the cases against them, adding that the “precise, direct, and clear participation” of each accused was not established.
They also challenged the documentary evidence, saying that the signatures of accused officials were not authenticated.
However, the anti-graft court said the accused should have specified the grounds for the request for leave to file demurrer to evidence.
“The subject motions failed to provide the reasons to support their claims that the evidence presented by the prosecution is not sufficient to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. On the contrary, upon careful review of the records, the prosecution was able to show that prima facie cases exist against the accused,” the court added.
What happened before?
The graft charges stemmed from a report of the Commission on Audit’s Special Task Force of Local Government Units. The special unit reviewed contracts of Metro Manila local governments with procurement amounting to P1 million and above, and infrastructure projects and service contracts amounting to P20 million or higher.
According to the prosecutors, Makati City did not conduct a required public bidding in its purchase of hospital equipment amounting to P9.9 million from Apollo Medical Equipment and Supplies in 2001 and 2002. In addition, the prosecutors also found out that the supplier was not registered as medical distributor under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
A government witness who worked as a records officer at the FDA’s General Services Division issued a certification that the License to Operate No. 0005555 identified in the case was not included in their list. – Rappler.com
1 comment
How does this make you feel?
The lack of public bidding and the lack of License to Operate (because LTO No. 0005555 was not included in the FDA’s General Services Division) were grave errors. Thanks to Commission on Audit’s Special Task Force of Local Government Units and Government Prosecutors for doing their work well.