MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has issued a 90-day preventive suspension against former Quezon City administrator Aldrin Cuña from his role as director at the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP).
Cuña, along with former Quezon City mayor Herbert Bautista, is facing graft charges over alleged irregularities in the procurement of an online occupational permitting and tracking system worth P32.1 million and the implementation of a solar power system and waterproofing project worth P25.342 million in 2019.
The Seventh Division, which handles the first case, ordered Cuña’s preventive suspension in a four-page resolution dated June 22 and released yesterday.
It cited Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, which “makes it mandatory for the court to suspend any public officer against whom a valid information is filed charging a violation of the law, Title 7, Book II of the Revised Penal Code, or for any offense involving fraud upon government or public funds or property.”
Last May, prosecutors submitted a manifestation alleging that Cuña is an incumbent director at the NDCP.
Cuña, in response, said his suspension is unnecessary because he has neither the intention to influence prosecution witnesses nor tamper with any evidence.
He maintained that the NDCP does not have regular and usual transactions with the Quezon City government and that the integrity of prosecution’s evidence is safely preserved at the Office of the Ombudsman.
In its ruling, the court stressed that the mandatory nature of the preventive suspension must be enforced.
The resolution was penned by Associate Justice Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomez-Estoesta.
In a separate resolution, the Seventh Division also denied another bid by Bautista to junk the case.
Associate Justices Zaldy Trespeses and Georgina Hidalgo concurred with both resolutions.