ILOILO City Councilor Plaridel Nava III has failed to convince the Sandiganbayan to quash the graft case filed against him earlier this year over the alleged anomalous vehicle towing and clamping contract signed eight years ago.
The anti-graft court junked Nava’s Motion to Quash alleging the facts as charged in the information do not amount to a criminal offense.
The 15-page resolution was penned by Presiding Justice Amparo M. Cabotaje-Tang, with Associate Justices Bernelito R. Fernandez and Ronald B. Moreno concurring.
The incumbent councilor was named co-accused of former city mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog for allegedly having direct financial and pecuniary interests in 3L Towing Services which was awarded the city government’s towing and clamping service on January 20, 2015.
Prosecutors said the contract did not undergo the required public bidding.
Graft investigators likewise said the two city officials used businesswoman Leny B. Garcia as a dummy and listed her name as the owner of 3L Towing Services.
However, Garcia was listed by the prosecution as the principal government witness against the two accused.
The specific allegation against Nava concerns his personal involvement in 3L Towing, having allegedly searched around for potential suppliers of wheel clamps from China aside from preparing the contractor’s registration with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
Nava, however, argued that as a member of the Sangguniang Panlungsod, his primary duty was to legislate city laws.
He pointed out that he was neither a signatory to the memorandum of agreement between the city government and the contractor nor was he authorized to issue any business permit or operating licenses to 3L Towing.
Even as he admitted that he was the principal sponsor of the ordinance that led to the towing and clamping contract being awarded to a contractor, Nava said there was not one piece of evidence on record that he used his power or influence on Mabilog for the latter to pick a particular towing company.
The Sandiganbayan, however, reminded Nava that in filing a Motion to Quash, he was already deemed to have hypothetically admitted the truth of all allegations.
