Sandiganbayan orders 90-day suspension of JV Ejercito

The Sandiganbayan has ordered the suspension of Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito for 90 days in connection with the graft case he is facing over the the allegedly anomalous purchase of firearms in 2008.

In a six-page resolution issued Tuesday, the anti-graft court's Fifth Division said Ejercito is suspended "from his position as Senator of the Republic of the Philippines, and from any other public office which he may now or hereafter be holding for a period of ninety (90) days from receipt of this resolution, unless a motion for reconsideration is seasonably filed."

The graft case against Ejercito stemmed from San Juan City’s procurement of high-powered rifles in 2008, when he was city mayor. The purchase was made using the city’s calamity funds even though the city was not under a state of calamity.

Also placed under the preventive 90-day suspension were Ejercito's co-accused: namely: city administrator Ranulfo Dacalos, city legal officer Romualdo Delos Santos, and City Documentation and Compliance Office special assistant Lorenza Ching.

The Ombudsman, through its prosecutorial arm Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), had asked the Sandiganbayan to suspend Ejercito and his co-accused, who are incumbent officials of San Juan City, to be placed under preventive suspension in accordance with the rules.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/575596/news/nation/ombudsman-asks-for-jv-ejercito-s-suspension-anew

The OSP said that under Section 13 of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, any incumbent officer “shall be suspended from office” when he or she is being prosecuted “under a valid [case] information” for any crime involving “fraud upon government or public funds or property.”

In its resolution, the Sandiganbayan said placing an incumbent public official under preventive suspension is mandatory, “as evident from the very wording of the law.”

The anti-graft court did not side with Ejercito’s argument that his suspension “will interrupt” public service since he is serving as a senator. It said that such a scenario is “unlikely” since he has 23 colleagues in the Senate who can promote his advocacies.

While Ejercito is chairperson of the Senate committee on urban planning, housing and resettlement, the Sandiganbayan said Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III will “surely know” how to deal with and fill the vacancies that his colleague’s suspension will cause.

The anti-graft court said Ejercito’s mother, San Juan City Mayor Guia Gomez, will likewise know what to do with the vacancies caused by the suspension of the senator’s co-accused in the case.

“Considering that the Information had been found o be sufficient in form and substance, and considering that the charge herein squarely falls within the ambit of the invoked provision of RA 3019 on suspension, and considering further the mandatory tenor thereof, the Court must issue the order of suspension as a matter of course,” the Sandiganbayan said. —ALG, GMA News