Arrest warrant out for Palawan gov

The Sandiganbayan’s First Division yesterday issued a warrant of arrest for Palawan Gov. Joel Reyes and an official of the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PMRB) for a graft case filed against them for allegedly giving undue favor to a small-scale mining company.

Another graft case was filed against Reyes and Andronico Baguyo, of the PMRB’s technical secretariat, before the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division, which, however, has not issued any arrest warrant against the two pending resolution of their motion to defer the issuance of the warrant.

A bail of P30,000 each was recommended for the temporary liberty of Reyes and Baguyo.

The Office of the Ombudsman also recommended that they be placed in the immigration bureau’s hold departure list.

The Ombudsman filed the graft charges against Reyes and Baguyo for allegedly violating Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, when they granted, renewed and issued a two-year permit – from April 6, 2006 to April 5, 2008 – to Platinum Group Metals Corp. to extract more than 280,000 metric tons of mineral ore worth more than P565 million, way above the allowable annual production limit of 50,000 MT under the small-scale mining law.

The permit was issued despite the company’s alleged violations of its small-scale mining permit such as the use of heavy equipment in its mining operations, contrary to the provisions of Republic Act 7076.

In a 14-page resolution signed by acting Ombudsman and Overall Deputy Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro, Reyes and Baguyo were charged with two counts of violation of Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The Ombudsman, meanwhile, dismissed the graft complaint against provincial administrator Romeo Seratubias, Mayor Lucena Demaala and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regional director Guillermo Estabillo for lack of merit.

Their direct participation in the renewal and grant of the permit to Platinum was not convincingly established by the evidence on record, the Ombudsman said.

If convicted of the charges, Reyes and Baguyo face imprisonment of not more than 10 years for each count, perpetual disqualification from public office, and forfeiture in favor of the government of “prohibited interest and unexplained wealth” gained from their allegedly unlawful act.

The case stemmed from a complaint filed by Fernando Santos, a member of the pro-environmental group Katipunan Para sa Kalikasan, who alleged that Reyes and the PMRB issued ore transport permits to Platinum, authorizing it to transport 282,729.35 MT of mineral ore for a period of two years, despite the fact that the company was a holder of only a small-scale mining permit.