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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Sandigan denies plea of private individual to junk graft charges

Sandigan denies plea of private individual to junk graft charges

Published May 29, 2023 05:43 am
The Sandiganbayan has denied the plea to dismiss the graft charges filed against Philippine Phosphate Fertilizer Corp. (PhilPhos) executive Tomas A. Guibani, a private individual who was allegedly involved in the reported P46 million fraudulent purchases of fertilizers in 2003. Guibani is the co-accused of former agriculture secretary Luis Ramon P. Lorenzo Jr. and former National Food Authority (NFA) administrator Arthur C. Yap. They were accused of conspiring with one another in purchasing 92,158 bags of fertilizer for P46 million from PhilPhos through negotiated procurement instead of public bidding. On Sept. 14, 2022, the Supreme Court (SC) ordered the dismissal of the cases against Lorenzo and Yap for violation of their constitutional right to speedy disposition of cases. In his plea to dismiss the charges filed against him, Guibani cited the dismissal of the cases against Lorenzo and Yap. The Sandiganbayan said “the SC ordered the Sandiganbayan to dismiss the present cases as to accused Lorenzo and Yap solely on the ground of violation of their constitutional right to speedy disposition of cases.” "Accused Guibani has not even averred, much less shown, in his motion that he is similarly situated as accused Lorenzo and Yap to justify the dismissal of these cases as to him for violation of his right to speedy disposition of cases," the anti-graft court said. "Considering that the bases of the conspiracy charged have not been removed, there is no ground for outright dismissing these cases as to accused Guibani," it ruled. The resolution was written by Sixth Division Chairperson Sarah Jane T. Fernandez with the concurrence of Associate Justices Kevin Narce B. Vivero and Maryann E. Corpus-Mañalac.
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