Sandiganbayan resets arraignment of ex-Batangas governor Leviste

The Sandigabayan Fifth Division on Wednesday postponed the arraignment of former Batangas governor Jose Antonio "Tony" Leviste for a malversation case over his alleged failure to liquidate cash advances amount to more than P100,000.

The anti-graft court reset the arraignment as it has yet to resolve Leviste’s motion to quash the case.

The arraignment was moved to October 6.

Filed by the Office of the Ombudsman on May 24, the malversatoin of public funds case stemmed from Leviste’s alleged failure to liquidate cash advances amounting to P151,385 for his supposed foreign travels during his term as the chairman of the Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) in 2003.

The Ombudsman said Leviste failed to liquidate the cash advances despite repeated demands by the PRA and the Commission on Audit (COA).

Leviste’s co-accused, former Financial Planning and Control Division chief of PRA Philip John Moreno had earlier pleaded “not guilty” to the case.

In his motion to quash filed before the court on June 30, Leviste, through his lawyer Dennis Manalo, prayed for the dismissal of the case on the ground that his constitutional rights to speedy disposition of case was supposedly violated by the Office of the Ombudsman.

Leviste said the Ombudsman sat on the malversation complaint against him for 12 years or since 2004 before filing the case before the Sandiganbayan this year.

Leviste was convicted of homicide in 2009 for killing his long-time aide Rafael de las Alas. Leviste admitted to the crime, saying he shot de las Alas in self-defense.

The Makati Regional Trial Court sentenced him to six to twelve years of imprisonment.

In December 2013, Leviste was granted parole after serving his sentence for six years. — RSJ, GMA News