Sandiganbayan junks raps vs. Coast Guard officials

The Sandiganbayan has dismissed graft charges against 25 Philippine Coast Guard officials in connection with the procurement of P67 million worth of office, construction, hardware and other information technology supplies in 2014, granting the motion to withdraw the charges made by the government prosecutors.

In a six-page decision, the anti-graft court sided with the state prosecutors’ argument that it could not effectively prosecute the 25 Philippine Coast Guard officials since the Court of Appeals, in May this year, already cleared Commander Ivan Roldan of any liability and subsequently ordered his reinstatement.

?Roldan’s 24 co-accused in the graft case were:

• Vice Admiral Rodolfo Diwata Isorena;
• Commander John Badong Esplana;
• Captain Joeven Libreja Fabul;
• Philippine Coast Guard Accounting Head Rogelio Ferrer Caguioa;
• Commander Wilfred Burgos;
• Rear Admiral Cecil Chen;
• Commander Ferdinand Velasco;
• Commander George Villareal Ursabia, Jr.;
• Commander William Ocular Arquero;
• Commander Jude Thaddeus Mandin Besinga;
• Commander Roben Navarro De Guzman;
• Commander Enrico Efren Acasio Evangelista, Jr.;
• Captain Angelito Gil;
• Ensign Mark Franklin Aldea Lim Ii;
• Captain Angel Lobaton IV;
• Captain Ramon Lopez;
• Lieutenant Mark Larsen Mariano;
• Commander William Masinloc Melad;
• Commander Rommel Supangan;
• Commander Ivan Endique Roldan;
• Commander Allen Dalangin;
• Captain Christopher Villacorte;
• Commander Ferdinand Tallera Panganiban;
• Commodore Aaron Tensuan Reconquista and
• Commander Joselito Balayanto Quintas

The CA said Robles could not be held liable for the P67 million purchase because the West Philippine Sea crisis from 2013 to 2015 "was a major security issue that required the Coast Guard Intelligence Force to conduct 24/7 monitoring, surveillance, intelligence gathering, and other significant intelligence operations at West Philippine Sea, as well as maintain a high degree of operational readiness wherein immediate action was necessary in order to avoid delay or disruption in its operations."

“The withdrawal of the Informations and Amended Informations finds support in the case of People v. Sandiganbayan, wherein the Supreme Court declared the futility of proceeding with a criminal case that will be prosecuted based on the same facts and evidence as that in the administrative case which was dismissed for lack of evidence,” the Sandiganbayan said.

The Sandiganbayan cited the portion of the Supreme Court ruling which read “if the criminal case will be prosecuted based on the same facts and evidence as that in the administrative case, to still burden the accused to present controverting evidence despite the failure of the prosecution to present sufficient and competent evidence will be a futile and useless exercise.”

“Applying the foregoing jurisprudence to the present criminal cases which were founded on the same set of facts and evidence as in the dismissed administrative cases and considering the Court's finding of absence of sufficient evidence on record that would engender a well-founded belief that the accused are probably guilty of graft, the Court resolves to grant the withdrawal of the Informations and Amended Informations prayed for by the prosecution,” the anti-graft court said in its ruling dated September 6.

“Wherefore, the prosecution's Compliance and Consolidated Resolution are noted and the Motion to Withdraw Informations is granted,” the court added.

With the dismissal of charges, the Sandiganbayan also ordered the release of cash bonds of each of the 25 accused, subject to the usual accounting procedures.

Likewise, the Hold Departure Orders issued against the 25 accused by reason of these cases have been lifted.

It was in February 2013 when the Philippines sued China over the latter's repeated aggression and incursions of the Philippines' 200 nautical miles off territorial sea exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea.

This case was eventually won by the Philippines in July 2016 when the UN Permanent Court of Arbitration rejected China's massive claim over the entire South China Sea and declared the Spratly Islands, as well as the Panganiban (Mischief) Reef, Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal and Recto (Reed) Bank are all within the Philippines' EEZ. —NB, GMA News