5 Eastern Samar LGU execs suspended over fire truck purchase

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has ordered the suspension for 90 days of five municipal officials of Guiuan, Eastern Samar in connection with the charges filed against them over the alleged anomalous procurement of a fire truck in 2007.

The anti-graft court’s sixth division suspended municipal engineer Arsenio Salamida, budget officer Esperanza Cotin, planning and development officer Ma. Nenita Ecleo, administrative officer Felipe Padual and market supervisor Danilo Colandog.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government was directed to implement the suspension order and submit a report on the date of its enforcement.

Salamida, Cotin, Ecleo, Padual and Colandog were included in the charge sheet against Guiuan Mayor Annaliza Gonzales-Kwan for violation of Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act in 2017.

Kwan was suspended last month, also for 90 days, in connection with the case.

The charges stemmed from the municipal government’s purchase of a fire truck worth P1.985 million from Integrated Energy and Resource System Inc. allegedly without public bidding.

The court said the suspension of public officials charged with a valid case under RA 3019 or the Revised Penal Code or for any offense involving public funds or property or fraud against government is mandatory.

“They entered a plea of not guilty... They admitted and acknowledged the validity of the (case) information,” the court noted.

The court gave no weight in the argument of the defendants that they were previously suspended for six months in a related administrative case.

“A criminal case will not preclude administrative proceedings and vice-versa insofar as the application of the law on preventive suspension is concerned,” the sixth division said.