Sandiganbayan acquits former CDO mayor of graft, falsification charges

The Sandiganbayan acquitted former Cagayan de Oro Mayor Oscar Moreno and seven others of 11 counts of graft and falsification charges.

The charges stemmed from the rental of heavy equipment during Moreno's tenure as governor of Misamis Oriental from 2007 to 2011.

On Friday, the chair of the Sandiganbayan’s Second Division, Associate Justice Oscar Herrera Jr., cleared Moreno and others of eight counts of violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and three counts of falsification of public documents under the Revised Penal Code.

"At last, the ordeal that I went through in this painful episode of political vendetta, is now over!" Moreno said in a Facebook post.

"The charges were baseless in law and in fact, but it took 10 long years of diligent and thorough legal defense to prove our case."

In 2016, the Office of the Ombudsman ordered the filing of graft charges against re-elected Cagayan De Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno over the alleged anomalous lease contract for the implementation of the city government’s boxing program. — DVM, GMA Integrated News