By Czarina Nicole O. Ong
The Sandiganbayan First Division has acquitted former mayor Julius Ceasar Vergara of Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija of the charge of violating Section 48(9) of Republic Act (RA) 9003, the Philippine Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.
On Feb. 15, 2004, Vergara was accused of failing to comply with the requirements of RA 9003 when he did not convert the open dumpsites in Barangays Valle Cruz and San Isidro into a controlled dump by Feb. 15, 2004 as mandated by the law on Feb. 15, 2001.
In the 22-page decision penned by Associate Justice Efren De La Cruz and concurred to by Associate Justices Geraldine Faith Econg and Edgardo Caldona, the Sandiganbayan regarded the fact that the conversion of an open dump to a controlled one is a rigorous process.
While it is true that the city should have converted the dump site within the mandated time, there was still no proof that Vergara made a “flagrant and culpable refusal or unwillingness” to perform his duty, the court ruled.