Sandigan junks another graft rap vs Enrico Echiverri

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has dismissed another graft case against former Caloocan City mayor Enrico Echiverri in connection with infrastructure and drainage improvement projects during his term.

In a 70-page resolution promulgated on June 10, the court’s Third Division granted Echiverri’s demurrer to evidence “for lack of sufficient evidence.”

The Third Division also granted the demurrer to evidence of Echiverri’s co-accused, former city accountant Edna Centeno and former city budget officer Jesusa Garcia.

Centeno and Garcia were also acquitted of a separate case of falsification of public documents, still in connection with the projects.

The resolution was penned by Sandiganbayan presiding justice and Third Division chairperson Ampara Cabotaje-Tang. Associate Justices Bernelito Fernandez and Sarah Jane Fernandez concurred with the ruling.

This is the sixth graft case dismissed by the Sandiganbayan out of the 57 cases filed against Echiverri by Office of the Ombudsman in late 2017 up to early this year in connection with several development projects.

The ombudsman’s prosecution team has not won a single case against him so far.

The ombudsman accused Echiverri of awarding a P1.962-million drainage improvement contract on Saplungan street in Barangay 179 to Golden 3T Construction in 2011 without the city council’s authorization.

The Third Division cited the Supreme Court’s Oct. 1, 2018 ruling affirming the findings of the Sandiganbayan’s First Division, in a related case, that Echiverri was authorized by the city council to enter into contracts for various city development projects.