SC issues TRO on suspension of DPWH chief

The Sandiganbayan has held in abeyance its order suspending Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Florante Soriquez and four others over the P2.7-billion Pampanga megadike scam after the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order stopping the project’s implementation.

In a one-page resolution, the anti-graft court’s fifth division said the administrative sanction imposed on Soriquez and supervising engineers Rey David, Ulysis Maniago, Juan Gonzales and Gil Rivera is "held in abeyance until further orders from the Supreme Court."

The order, signed by Justices Minita Chico-Nazario, Ma. Christina Cortez-Estrada and Teresita Diaz-Baldos, was transmitted to Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina for implementation and copy furnished to Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo and DPWH assistant secretary Raul Asis.

Soriquez and the four engineers were investigated and subsequently haled to court after a huge portion of the FVR Megadike in San Fernando, Pampanga collapsed during the onslaught of lahar in August 1996.

They were suspended last Oct. 15 upon motion of government prosecutors, who said that preventive suspension is mandatory under the Anti Graft Law (RA 3019), especially since all the violations committed by the accused have been clearly stated in the criminal information.

Soriquez was the former director of the Mt. Pinatubo Rehabilitation Project before he was appointed DPWH assistant secretary in March 2001 and secretary last April 27, replacing Bayani Fernando, who served both as DPWH chief and Metro Manila Development Authority chairman in a concurrent capacity.