Sandigan orders arrest of Tuguegarao City mayor

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines  – The Sandiganbayan has issued an arrest order for Tuguegarao City Mayor Delfin Ting for alleged violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act in connection with the demolition of the city’s old market four years ago.

Ting’s son, Cagayan third district Rep. Randolph Ting, yesterday said though his father had already posted bail.

The arrest order came after the Sandiganbayan’s second division denied the elder Ting’s pleading for it to first order the Ombudsman to resolve his pending motions for reconsideration and reinvestigation before any such warrant could be issued. 

Mayor Ting has been in the hold departure order list of the Sandiganbayan since July last year in connection with the case, which stemmed from the demolition of the city public market in 2008 to give way to the construction of the present Mall of the Valley.

The complainant of the case, a certain engineer Robert Guzman, argued that the demolition was disadvantageous to the city government, violating Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corruption Practices Act. 

The complainant said the demolition resulted in the loss of millions of pesos for the city government as the public market then still had a book value of more that P23 million.

Mayor Ting could not be immediately reached for comment. However, Rep. Ting is confident that his father will eventually be cleared, saying the demolition was even beneficial to the city government.

“The Mall of the Valley even enabled the city government to increase its revenue, especially after new investors… came to rent in it,” the congressman said.