Sandigan upholds graft raps vs official in PEA-Amari deal

The Sandiganbayan has upheld graft charges filed against Amado Lagdameo Jr, former general manager of the Public Estates Authority (PEA), over a controversial property deal with Amari Coastal Development Corp in 1995. In a 13-page resolution issued on December 11 and penned by Associate Justice Gregory Ong, chairman of the Sandiganbayan fourth division, the graft court junked Lagdameo’s motion to dismiss, which questioned the validity of the criminal information used against him in 1997. Under the April 1995 PEA-Amari agreement, the latter paid to acquire three islands in Manila Bay at P1,200 per square meter for a total of P1.8 billion. In comparison, reclaimed lands adjacent to the three islands were sold for as high as P90,000 per square meter. Investigations by the Senate later produced testimonies that the company paid some P1.7 billion in bribes to push the deal’s approval by the PEA and Malacañang and to eliminate other interested developers. The Supreme Court, in a decision dated July 9, 2002, nullified the PEA-Amari deal for being unconstitutional because the three reclaimed islands that were supposed to be transferred to the Amari were deemed as part of public domain and therefore unalienable, or cannot be sold. An appeal filed by PEA and Amari was denied in a subsequent Supreme Court ruling dated May 6, 2003. Lagdameo had claimed that with the nullification of the deal, there was no longer basis for his indictment on allegations that he entered into a contract that was grossly disadvantageous to the government. The court disagreed, saying: "The validity of the contract or transaction is immaterial because it is the act of entering into such contract or transaction, …that determines the criminal culpability of the contracting public officer, not the character or effect thereof." Lagdameo’s co-accused in the case include former PEA chairman Wainwright Rivera; PEA Board Members Arturo Trinidad, Gregorio Fider and Marylou Ventura, deputy general managers Justiniano Montano IV, Theron Lacson, and Manuel Beriña and former chief Government Corporate Counsel Osacar Garcia. -GMANews.TV