Marquez to be arraigned Friday

Parañaque City Mayor Joey Marquez and three other local officials indicted for their alleged failure to reimburse a book dealer are scheduled to be arraigned this Friday.

Marquez, Rolando Magno, Mar Jimenez and Antonette Antonio are expected to enter a plea of "not guilty" before the third division of the Sandiganbayan, headed by Justice Godofredo Legaspi.

Marquez’s lawyers have sought a "reinvestigation" of the case from the Office of the Ombudsman. The hearing was supposed to take place today, but was rescheduled because of the holiday declaration.

Marquez, who sits as chairman of the city school board, his co-chairman Magno, executive assistant Jimenez and Antonio, assistant to the Office of the City Mayor, were sued based on the complaint of book supplier Lizabeth Carreon, who claimed she was not reimbursed of her P6.4-million textbook delivery.

Carreon said that from Feb. 1998 to Feb. 1999, when Marquez was chairman of the city school board, he and the three others promised that the City Council would pass a resolution allocating funds for the textbooks she delivered.

They also accused Marquez 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, which never materialized.

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

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), which would analyze signatures on the documents. – Delon Porcala