THE Sandiganbayan has denied the most recent motion from former Quezon City mayor Herbert “Bistek” Bautista seeking a quick termination of his graft case concerning an alleged anomalous contract signed days before he stepped down on June 30, 2019.
In a resolution dated June 22, 2023, the Seventh Division denied Bautista’s Manifestation with Motion to Dismiss where he argued that the refusal of the prosecution to identify any of the 23 witnesses it is planning to present is a serious “procedural transgression” which rendered its pre-trial brief a mere scrap of paper.
He claimed that the prosecution should be deemed to have not appeared at the pre-trial at all which, he said, should be a sufficient ground to dismiss the case with prejudice.
Bautista and co-accused former Quezon City administrator Aldrin Cuña are accused of giving unwarranted preference to private contractor Geodata Solutions Inc. and causing undue injury to the city government for unlawfully approving the P32.108 million contract for the “procurement of online occupational permitting and tracking system.”
Prosecutors said the project should have been scrapped in the absence of a specific appropriation from the Sangguniang Panlungsod.
The Sandiganbayan however noted that the rules cited by Bautista were under the Rules of Civil Procedure governing civil cases while the case against him involves a criminal offense.
Citing the Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure, the anti-graft court held that the non-filing or lack of substantial compliance, is not a ground for the dismissal of a criminal case.
