DBM exec, 3 employees absolved from 'pork' scam

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan dismissed eight of the 16 graft cases against a Department of Budget and Management (DBM) official and three of his staff linked to the "pork barrel" scam.

In a resolution Tuesday, anti-graft court ruled that there is no probable cause against Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos and DBM employees Rosario Nunez, Lalaine Paule and Marilou Bare.

"It might not be amiss to state that had the Court known from the outset that a [Sub-Allotment Release Order, or Sub-ARO] was not issued by the DBM, no probable cause finding would have issued against Relampagos et al. in the first place," the resolution said.

It added that the Sub-ARO was not issued by the DBM but by the Central Office or Regional Office of a department or agency.

A Special Allotment Release Order, on the other hand, is solely issued by the DBM.

With the dismissal of some of the cases, the Sandiganbayan also recalled the arrest warrants against the four accused.

The court, however, ordered government prosecutors to produce additional evidence within five days "to establish existence of probable cause" against the DBM personnel on the remaining eight graft charges.

"Their arraignment on these cases is therefore deferred," the anti-graft court said.

The Sandiganbayan also cleared the four accused from allegations they received kickbacks from the transactions with businesswoman and plunder respondent Janet Napoles, the suspected brains of the scam.

"On the contrary, Benhur Luy's statement before the Senate hearings establishes that he did not know whether anybody at the DBM received anything," the resolution said.