Marquez posts bail

Parañaque City Mayor Joey Marquez evaded arrest yesterday after posting bail of P70,000 at the Sandiganbayan in connection with graft and estafa suits filed against him and three others over a multi-million peso textbook deal.

The mayor, accused of failing to reimburse a book dealer of P6.4 million worth of textbooks, went directly to the office of Justice Minita Chico-Nazario and posted the required bail – P30,000 for the graft case and P40,000 for the estafa suit, as recommended by Special Prosecutor Humphrey Monteroso.

In case Marquez failed to pay the needed bail for his temporary liberty, a warrant could have been issued by the anti-graft court for his immediate arrest. By posting bail, the mayor "acknowledged" the authority of the court to hear the case filed against him by the Ombudsman.

Marquez, who sits as chairman of the city school board, was indicted along with co-chairman Rolando Magno, executive assistant Mar Jimenez and assistant to the office of the city mayor Antonette Antonio, were indicted on March 14 based on the complaint of Lizabeth Carreon.

Carreon said that from Feb. 1998 to Feb. 1999, when Marquez was chairman of the city school board, he and the others allegedly promised her, being the representative of the book suppliers, that the City Council would pass a resolution allocating funds for their textbooks. But this never materialized.

Prosecutors alleged in the charge sheet that Marquez and the others "pretended" that there were transactions, through purchase orders, vouchers and the like "when in truth and in fact there is no appropriation to the damage and prejudice of the suppliers."

They also accused the mayor of "taking advantage of his position" by conspiring with the three others to "feloniously induce Carreon to deliver" the books to various schools and promised her of reimbursement, but which was never done.

An Ombudsman resolution was issued in Sept. 2000 dismissing "provisionally" the charges against Marquez, but this was modified and charges were finally ledged after he failed to provide the Ombudsman a copy of findings clearing him of any responsibility.

Nothing to analyze

Chief special prosecutor Dennis Villa Ignacio said the Ombudsman decided to hold in abeyance the probe due to Marquez’s request to wait for the findings of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Marquez went to the office of NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco Monday night to personally ask him to have his signature examined and analyze, saying the signature affixed on the documents was not his.

In a phone interview, Marquez said the NBI had tried to obtain the documents presented by complainant Carreon to the Office of the Ombudsman to check if his signatures were authentic.

But to this day, Marquez said, the NBI has not been furnished a copies of the documents.

"The Office of the Ombudsman should have at least had my signature authenticated. There’s really something fishy in the decision," the mayor claimed.

Marquez said that as a victim of forgery, he should have been the complainant but now, he is the one facing charges.

He said he would file forgery complaint against Carreon once the NBI is able to authenticate his signature.

Marquez added that the book publishers also said that Carreon was not an authorized distributor of the books.

"And this was again ignored by the Ombudsman," Marquez said.

For his part, Wycoco said he has asked his men to request the Sandiganbayan to allow them to get a copy of the documents, which would they examine.

"Mayor Marquez wants us to check the signature on the documents. So we will do our part in analyzing the signature," said Wycoco, who noted that Marquez would file a separate but similar petition with the anti-graft court.

Once they get copies of the documents, the NBI chief said he would refer the case to the bureau’s Question Documents. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Nikko Dizon