MANILA, Philippines — Another division of the Sandiganbayan has denied the bid of former Caloocan City mayor Enrico Echiverri to dismiss his graft cases in connection with the alleged anomalous drainage improve and road concreting projects in 2011 and 2012.
In two separate resolutions both promulgated on September 6, the anti-graft court's Second Division said Echiverri and his two co-accused's joint motions to quash the cases were “devoid of merit.”
The court dismissed the respondent's argument that the facts contained in the case information sheets do not constitute the charged offense.
The Second Division maintained that the case information sheets filed by the Office of the Ombudsman “contain all the elements of violation of Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019.”
Both resolutions were penned by division chairman Associate Justice Oscar Herrera Jr. with the concurrence of Associate Justices Michael Frederick Musngi and Lorifel Pahimna.
Echiverri, former city accountant Edna Centeno and former city budget officer Jesusa Garcia are facing two counts each of violation of RA 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act before the Second Division.
The first graft case stemmed from the awarding of P2.751-million contract to E.V. & E Construction in 2011 for a drainage project in Barangay 165 Pleasant View Subdivision.
The other graft case was in connection with the P3.608-million contract awarded to Tuchar Construction Inc. in 2012 for the concreting of three streets (Cherry Blossom Street, Rose Street and Ilang-Ilang Street) in Barangay 187 in Caloocan City.
The ombudsman said the contracts were awarded without the required authorization and budget allocation from the Sangguniang Panglungsod or city council as provided under the Local Government Code.
Centeno and Garcia are also facing two counts each of falsification of public documents under the Revised Penal Code for allegedly falsifying Allotment and Obligation Slips to make it appear that the city council allocated a budget for the projects.
In the same resolutions, Second Division also denied Centeno and Garcia's motions to dismiss the falsification charges.
The court gave no weight in Echiverri's argument that the Commission on Audit has already cleared him and his co-accused of irregularities regarding the use of the city government's P1.06 billion fund for various projects, including the drainage improvement and the street concreting.
The COA, in its June 15, 2017 ruling, said it was proven that the respondents made corrective measures to address the supposed irregularities of the projects such as the enactment of supplemental budget and the ratification of the contracts found questionable.
The Second Division, however, said “evidence aliunde (evidence from outside source) or matters extrinsic of the [case] informations are not to be considered” when it comes to deciding on a motion to dismiss on the ground of the facts charged in the case information.
The court, further said that the other arguments raised by the respondents such as the existence of city ordinance and resolutions supposedly authorizing the projects to proceed, are matters of defense that “must be established during the trial."
Echiverri, Centeno and Garcia are facing six more graft cases in other divisions of the Sandiganbayan in connection with the alleged anomalous awarding of contracts for various projects.
The Sandiganbayan Third Division had earlier denied Echiverri's bid to dismiss his graft case over a P1.962-million contract awarded to Golden 3T Construction for a drainage improvement project in Barangay 179.