Sandiganbayan affirms dismissal of graft rap vs. JV Ejercito

The Sandiganbayan has affirmed its dismissal of the graft case filed against Senator Joseph Victor "JV" Ejercito over the purchase of P2.1-million worth of firearms when he was mayor of San Juan City in 2008.

In a five-page resolution promulgated Monday, the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division denied the prosecution’s claim that the court committed grave abuse of discretion in granting the demurrer to evidence filed by the senator, effectively dismissing the case.

In their motion for reconsideration, the state prosecutors also said it was already apparent that Ejercito favored the winning bidder, HK Tactical Defense System, Inc. (HKTDSI) even before the bidding for the firearms took place since the pre-qualification documents it submitted dated March 17, 2008, already indicated specific details for the purchase such as the brand name for the weapons, name of project, and project reference number.

However, the court said the prosecutors in their motion gave “no clear allegation or discussion of how there may have been grave abuse of discretion” on its part.

“The specified grounds have already been passed upon in the questioned resolution. There is no need to revisit and discuss them anew,” the court said.

In addition, the court said the prosecutors did not discuss the “crux” for which the demurrers to evidence were granted.

“There is totally no discussion about the Court’s finding that specific branding was not caused or made by accused Ejercito,” the court said.

“There is likewise no discussion about the apparent disparity as to which entity was benefitted as alleged in the Information and the one that should have been benefitted as shown by evidence,” it added.

Ejercito was charged with graft by the Office of the Ombudsman last March for allegedly using San Juan City’s calamity fund to buy the firearms even though the city was not under a state of calamity.

State prosecutors said the purchase of the high powered rifles, including three units of model K2 cal. 5.56mm sub-machine guns and 17 units of Daewoo model K1 cal. 5.56 mm sub-machine guns, was also done in haste without competitive bidding and examining the qualifications of HKTDSI.

In a 45-page ruling released last December, the anti-graft court said there was no proof that Ejercito caused undue injury to the government over the deal or gave unwarranted benefit to HKTDSI. 

Aside from Ejercito, also acquitted by the Sandiganbayan were: city administrator Ranulfo Dacalos, city legal officer Romualdo delos Santos, former city documentation and compliance office special assistant Lorenza Ching, former city treasurer Rosalinda Marasigan and former city engineer Danilo Mercado. — MDM, GMA News