SC affirms Recom Echiverri's first graft acquittal

Former Caloocan City mayor Enrico "Recom" Echiverri's first acquittal on graft charges at the Sandiganbayan now has the Supreme Court's (SC) stamp of approval.

The SC's Second Division on October 1 dismissed a petition by the Office of the Ombudsman that faulted the Sandiganbayan for granting Echiverri's demurrer to evidence, leading to his acquittal for one of more than 40 cases.

The justices affirmed the April 16 and June 13 resolutions of the anti-graft court clearing Echiverri and two former city officers of violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act due to the "failure of the prosecution to establish their guilt beyond reasonable doubt."

The Ombudsman, through the Office of the Special Prosecutor, failed to "sufficiently show" that the Sandiganbayan gravely abused its discretion by granting the former mayor and his co-accused's demurrer to evidence, the high court held.

The SC also upheld the acquittals of former city accountant Edna Centeno and former city budget officer Jesusa Garcia.

A demurrer to evidence is a motion to dismiss the case on the basis of lack of sufficient evidence to convict the accused. One can be filed after the prosecution rests its case.

The Ombudsman had alleged that the accused awarded an P8-million contract for a local road and drainage system improvement project to P.B. Grey Construction without authorization from Caloocan City's Sangguniang Panlungsod.

Centeno and Garcia were also charged with the crime of falsification of public documents.

In April, the Sandiganbayan ruled that there was "no evidence to even hint" Echiverri was motivated by bad faith in entering into a contract for the project. All three were acquitted of graft, while Centeno and Garcia were cleared of charges for falsfication of public documents.

This prompted the Office of the Ombudsman to seek relief before the SC.

However, the SC sided with the Sandiganbayan's ruling that granting  the demurrer to evidence was "warranted" because the prosecution's evidence showed the former mayor was authorized by an ordinance to enact a supplemental budget to enter into city development projects, including the allegedly anomalous road and drainage improvement bid.

Ombudsman prosecutors' evidence also showed the project underwent the required procurement process, "thereby eliminating the possibility that it was entered into by respondents with manifest partiality or with gross inexcusable negligence, and/or that it resulted in undue injury or actual damage" to the local government," the SC ruled.

The SC further held that since the granting of the demurrer to evidence "operates as an acquittal," reopening the case will subject the former accused to double jeopardy, which violates the Constitution.

None of the exceptions to the rule against double jeopardy are present in the case, it added.

"As such, respondents' acquittal can no longer be overturned," the SC said.

Echiverri is far from being off the hook, however, as he still faces at least 40 more sets of graft cases in connection with his alleged misuse of P235.65 million out of a loan he entered with the Landbank of the Philippines for various local infrastructure projects. —KBK, GMA News