Sandiganbayan rules to proceed with graft raps vs. John Osmeña

The Sandiganbayan has ruled to proceed with the graft trial of former senator and now Toledo City, Cebu Mayor John Henry Osmeña over his alleged failure to release a barangay's tax shares, despite his pending plea for a temporary restraining order at the Supreme Court.

In a resolution dated February 27, the Third Division denied the Osmeña's motion for the deferment of the proceedings of his case for six months due to lack of merit.

Osmeña filed a petition for certiorari at the SC on December 4, 2018 questioning the denial of his quashal motion at the Sandiganbayan for six count of violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The case stemmed when he allegedly "consistently" refused to release the quarterly real property tax share of Barangay Daanlungsod for the period covering the last two quarters of 2014 and for fiscal year 2015.

Osmeña urged the Sandiganbayan to suspend the trial for six months or until his TRO plea is resolved as a matter of courtesy to the high court.

However, the Sandiganbayan said a pending petition at the SC cannot impede the trial, citing the Revised Guidelines for Continuous Trial of Criminal Cases.

The rules state proceedings will proceed if there is no TRO within 10 days from its filing.

"It is clear, therefore, that, without a temporary restraining order or a writ of preliminary injunction, this court is mandatorily directed to proceed in due course after the lapse of 10 days from the filing of petition for certiorari, under threat of an administrative charge," the Sandiganbayan said.

The Sandiganbayan had set Osmeña's arraignment on March 22. — BM, GMA News