Sandiganbayan affirms suspension of Tuguegarao mayor Soriano

The Sandiganbayan Third Division has affirmed its ruling suspending Tuguegarao City mayor Jefferson Soriano for 90 days while the court is hearing his graft case in connection with the alleged anomalous purchase of rubber boats in 2009 during his stint at the Philippine National Police (PNP).

In a nine-page ruling issued last week, a copy of which was released to the media only on Wednesday, the Third Division dismissed for “lack of merit” Soriano's motion to credit the excess 130 dismissal days that he had already served from September 11, 2014 to April 16, 2015 upon the order of the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with an administrative case.

“But the relief prayed for by accused Soriano finds no support in law or jurisprudence,” the Third Division said in its ruling penned by Associate Justice Sarah Jane Fernandez.

In his motion filed on July 30, 2015, Soriano asked the court to issue a ruling declaring that he had already served the 90-day preventive suspension order that the court issued against him on February 28, 2014.

Soriano recounted that in September 2014, the Office of the Ombudsman ordered his dismissal from service after it supposedly found him guilty of an administrative offense of grave misconduct in connection with the alleged unauthorized holding of a fair without the approval of the city council.

Soriano appealed the Ombudsman’s ruling before the Court of Appeals (CA) and, in a decision issued on April 16, 2015, the CA rather found him guilty of a lesser offense of simple misconduct and imposed the penalty of a three-month suspension.

In the same ruling, however, the CA ordered Soriano’s immediate reinstatement in office noting that he had been serving his dismissal since September 11, 2014, thus, he had already satisfied the three-month suspension penalty.

Soriano resumed office as Tuguegarao City mayor on April 20, 2015.

In his motion, Soriano asked the Sandiganbayan to do the same as the CA, insisting that the excess days of his dismissal should be credited to satisfy the preventive suspension order.

“The excess 130 days of suspension he suffered constituted gross violation of his rights. Suspending him again for another 90 days will further perpetuate injustice and violate his and his constituents’ rights,” Soriano's motion said.

The court, however, sided with the prosecution’s argument that an administrative case must be treated separately from a criminal case.

“Again, it must be emphasized that in the administrative case, the penalty of dismissal from the service was imposed by the Office of the Ombudsman. In the present case, the suspension pendente lite (pending litigation), which accused admitted is mandatory, and which is not a penalty, is being imposed by this Court, and not by the Office of the Ombudsman,” the Third Division said.

“If accused Soriano feels aggrieved by the fact that he was effectively suspended for a period longer than the corrected penalty imposed by the CA, then his remedy in the alleged injustice committed against him is not before this Court but before the CA where the case involving his dismissal was resolved,” the court added.

The court directed Cagayan governor Alvaro Antonio to implement the suspension order.

Antonio was also directed to report to the court, within 15 days upon the receipt of the resolution, the actions his office has taken to implement the suspension.

The graft case against Soriano stemmed from the PNP’s purchase of rubber boats and outboard motors worth P131.550 million from four private companies in December 2009 allegedly without holding public bidding.

Soriano, at that time, was holding the rank of Police Deputy Director General and was serving as the chairman of the PNP Bids and Awards Committee.

Named as the primary accused in the case was former PNP chief Jesus Verzosa while Soriano and six other former police directors were named as co-accused. — BM, GMA News