FOUR former officials of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) led by Undersecretary Mario Relampagos have secured leave of court to seek outright dismissal of graft and malversation charges filed against them by the Office of the Ombudsman in relation to the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.
In the same 35-page resolution dated November 10, 2022, the Sandiganbayan Seventh Division also allowed former Muntinlupa City congressman now city mayor Rozzano Rufino Biazon to challenge the sufficiency of the prosecution’s evidence in his direct bribery case.
However, the anti-graft court affirmed the sufficiency of the government’s evidence against Technology Resource Center (TRC) officers Dennis Cunanan, Francisco Figura, Rosalinda Lacsamana, and Biazon in the graft and malversation charges.
In granting leave to the former DBM officials to file demurrer to evidence, the Sandiganbayan said the prosecution has not established that the defendants provided “undue accommodation” or that they facilitated an anomalous release of P3 million from Biazon’s PDAF in 2007.
Specifically, it noted that Relampagos raised a valid issue that there was no proof that the processing of the special allotment release order (SARO) or Notice of Cash Allocation (NCA) was “unduly fast” or did not follow the usual timetable.
The former DBM official also pointed out that it is not the DBM-Central Office but the Regional Operations Coordination Service (ROCS) that processed the SARO.
The Sandiganbayan noted that this point was supported by DBM issuances introduced into the record by the prosecutors themselves.
“As the court considers the foregoing arguments worth delving further into, it grants leave for Relampagos, et al. to file their demurrer to evidence,” it declared.
On the bribery case, the court gave weight to Biazon’s contention that the evidence fell short of proving that he actually received the supposed P1.95 million payoff from alleged pork barrel mastermind Janet Napoles.
The court sustained his argument as it noted that the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) found no bank record of the supposed fund transfer from the PDAF.
Likewise, by the admission of the prosecution’s star witness Benhur Luy, he was unable to ascertain that the sum he gave to former Pampanga Rep. Zenaida Ducut reached the hands of Biazon.
On the other hand, the court upheld the strength of prosecution evidence against TRC executives Cunanan, Lacsamana, and Figura who allegedly facilitated the disbursement of Biazon’s PDAF and signed Land Bank checks transferring the money to Napoles-linked NGO, Philippine Social Development Foundation Inc. (PSDFI).
“After considering the evidence on record, as well as the arguments of the accused-movants and the prosecution, the court finds that all the elements of malversation were satisfactorily proven by the prosecution as to Lacsamana, Cunanan, Figura and Biazon,” the court said.
