Suspension plea vs Braganza rejected

The Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) has rejected the petition of the Department of Agrarian Reform Employees Association (DAREA) for the preventive suspension of DAR Secretary Hernani Braganza.

PAGC Chairman Dario Rama and Commissioner Teresita Baltazar denied for lack of merit the petition seeking Braganza’s suspension filed by DAREA president Violeta Bonilla and her supporters on Monday. The PAGC officials said it is unnecessary to preventively suspend Braganza since the case is already up for resolution.

A third member of the PAGC, Commissioner Cesar Buenaflor, inhibited himself from hearing the complaint against Braganza and insisted there was no prima facie case against the DAR secretary.

The case will be resolved within 30 days from the date the position papers were filed by both DAREA and Braganza, the PAGC officials said.

They said Braganza’s stay in office "does not appear to pose a threat to the complainants, nor is there an imminent danger as to possible tampering, losing or destroying of documents, since all evidentiary documents essential to the resolution of this case have already been submitted and is in our possession."

"The grounds relied upon by the complainants in this case are not substantial enough to impress upon the Commission that there is a necessity to grant that motion," they added.

DAREA earlier asked the PAGC to issue a preventive suspension order against Braganza for fear he would tamper with official documents and harass employees amid the ongoing administrative case against him.

Among the documents now in the PAGC’s possession are vouchers submitted by the Commission on Audit belying DAREA’s allegation that DAR spent over P50 million for the 14th anniversary celebration of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) last June. The COA documents showed that the DAR anniversary party cost only P7 million.

Buenaflor said DAREA failed to support its accusations that Braganza "has all the propensity for profligacy" in all activities undertaken by the department.

"In sum," Buenaflor said, "the determination as to whether or not there is fiscal mismanagement incurred during the 14th CARP anniversary and as to other expenditures incurred by DAR management lies within the ambit of the COA."

Buenaflor added that the PAGC has no jurisdiction to decide on the other complaints filed by DAREA, such as the failure to grant employees’ benefits, since the issue constitutes an "internal matter between DAR management and its employees."

In a related development, Braganza is set to order separate investigations into the rally-spawned turmoil that gripped the DAR central office in Quezon City Tuesday.

In a forum, the DAR chief accused leaders of the Ugnayan ng mga Nagkakaisang Organisasyon sa Kanayunan and DAREA of colluding to stage the mass actions at DAR early this week.

Braganza also said the participants in the protest were not true farmers, but protesters from Payatas.

"We have received reports that when the rallyists attempted to barge into the DAR building, three officials of DAREA pressed the security guards to allow them to enter the building," Braganza told reporters.