EAMC execs fail in bid to shorten graft trial

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has denied a motion by three ranking officials of the East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC) to seek the dismissal of the graft cases against them without presenting their counter-evidence.

In a resolution promulgated on Sept. 4, the court’s Fourth Division found no merit in the joint motion for leave to file a demurrer to evidence by medical chief Rolando Cortez, finance management officer Marieta Cruz and chief administrative officer Jose Calixto.

A demurrer would have allowed Cortez, Cruz and Calixto to seek the dismissal of their graft cases halfway through the trial without presenting their defense but based solely on the supposed weakness of evidence of the prosecution.

The court sided with the position of the Office of the Ombudsman’s prosecution panel that the three accused failed to specify their grounds for seeking the court’s permission to file a demurrer but instead merely made a sweeping conclusion that the evidence against them was insufficient.

Cortez and Cruz are facing three counts each of violation of Republic 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act while Calixto is facing two counts of the same offense. 

Filed by the ombudsman in August last year, the cases stemmed from the allegedly anomalous procurement of medical supplies and air-conditioning units amounting to P11.14 million in 2006 by resorting to splitting what was a supposed to be single transaction into small-value procurements in order to do away with public bidding.