MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has dismissed a complaint for direct bribery filed against Muntinlupa Mayor Ruffy Biazon over the alleged misuse of P3 million of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) during his term as congressman in 2007.
In a 42-page resolution promulgated on Jan. 31, the anti-graft court’s Seventh Division granted Biazon’s demurrer to evidence, seeking the dismissal of the case on the ground of the weakness of evidence presented by the prosecution.
The Seventh Division also granted the joint demurrer to evidence filed by Biazon’s co-defendants, former Department of Budget and Management (DBM) officers Rosario Nuñez, Lalaine Paule and Marilou Bare, which effectively dismissed the charges of graft and malversation of public funds filed against them.
The Sandiganbayan, however, denied the demurrer to evidence filed by former DBM undersecretary Mario Relampagos, pointing out that he was not entitled to such legal relief as he remains a “fugitive from justice.”
The trial of Biazon’s graft and malversation cases will proceed as the court had denied his motion to file a demurrer to evidence for these complaints.
The court set the presentation of Biazon’s defense on Feb. 14, together with detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.
Filed by the ombudsman in 2016, the cases stemmed from the allocation of Biazon’s PDAF amounting to P3 million to the Philippine Social Development Foundation Inc., one of the fake non-government organizations linked with Napoles, the alleged brains of the pork barrel scam.
Biazon allegedly received P1.95 million worth of kickbacks from Napoles.