Post bail anew, 3 Malampaya fund scam respondents told

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has ordered three private respondents in the P900-million Malampaya fund scam to post another bail bond within 30 days for their continued provisional liberty.

In a five-page resolution promulgated on Wednesday, the anti-graft court’s third division granted the motions of financial firm Investors Assurance Corp. (IAC) to be discharged from its obligation as the surety bonds provider of Evelyn de Leon, Gerald Apuang and Alejandro Garro, over their failure to pay their annual premiums for several years.

The IAC said the three “continue to refuse to acknowledge its right to collect the annual premiums” and did not express any intention to settle their obligations.

The third division cited Circular No. 155-2015 dated July 23, 2015 of the Supreme Court’s Office of the Court Administrator, which allows a surety company to be discharged from its obligation for failure or refusal of a defendant to pay the premiums.

De Leon, Apuang and Garro are among the private individuals charged in connection with the alleged misuse of P900 million worth of government income from the Malampaya natural gas project intended for farmers affected by Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, which hit the country in 2009.

The Office of the Ombudsman filed 97 counts each of graft and the complex crime of malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents.

The ombudsman recommended bail of P30,000 for each count of graft and P200,000 for each count of malversation through falsification.

The third division had earlier dismissed the cases against the primary accused, former Camarines Sur representative Rolando Andaya Jr., following his death in June 2022.

Based on the charge sheets, Andaya, who was budget secretary at the time, conspired with other government officials in funneling the fund to bogus non-government organizations owned by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged brains of the pork barrel fund scam.