Sandigan suspends PCG chief

MANILA, Philippines - The Sandiganbayan has ordered the suspension for 90 days of Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) commandant Vice Admiral Edmund Tan, who is facing graft charges.

The anti-graft court’s fourth division granted the motion of the prosecution to suspend Tan in an eight-page resolution signed by Justice Gregory Ong last July 6.

The Office of the Ombudsman filed graft charges in 2010 against Tan, who used to be the PCG’s Eastern Visayas Command chief.

The case stemmed from a complaint of businessman Reynaldo Tan, whose iron ore shipment was confiscated in 2007.

The cargo was released after the Department on Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) confirmed the grant of a transport permit.

Tan, however, complained that it was only after he incurred P500,000 in expenses because of the delay.

Government prosecutors said Section 13 of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act states that suspension is mandatory for incumbent government officials who are being tried for offenses involving fraud.

“Any incumbent public officer against whom any criminal prosecution under a valid information under this Act or under Title Seven Book II of the Revised Penal Code or for any offense involving fraud upon government or public funds or property whether as a simple or as complex offense and in whatever stage of execution and mode of participation, is pending in court shall be suspended from office,” the law said.

Tan said he would file a motion for reconsideration of the suspension order. He said he would elevate the case to the Supreme Court if the Sandiganbayan will not grant his plea.

“This is a classic example of justice delayed, justice denied,” Tan said in a text message.

“I cannot understand why a decision on this has to take too long to resolve at the Sandiganbayan and now they are suspending me when this should have been decided already,” he said.

He said the Office of the Ombudsman dismissed the case in July 2011.

“The complainant has already issued an affidavit of desistance in May 2011, as he realized that my action in September 2007, to hold the departure of a barge for having no anchors, was done in the performance of my duty. Complainant himself even appeared in court last Feb. 20 to attest to that,” he said.

Tan is set to retire on Dec. 16, when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 56.

Meanwhile, PCG spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Armand Balilo said court cases are risks that public officials encounter in the course of their duties.

“We can be vulnerable to complaints. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t. It is better that you do your job, be charged and face the case in court rather than put the lives of people on the line,” Balilo said.

He defended Tan’s action, saying that if the latter allowed the ship to sail without an anchor, the life of the crew and other nearby vessels would have been imperiled.

– Michael Punongbayan, Evelyn Macairan