The Sandiganbayan ordered the 90-day suspension pendente lite of Municipal Engineer and Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) Vice-Chairman Ramil Jayma; BAC members Municipal Agriculturist Marietta Nonan, Acting Municipal Budget Officer Carmencita Bari, Engineer I Andres Serue and Raymond Franco, and Municipal Planning and Development Coordinator and BAC Technical Working Group Chairman Hilario Cabangon, all from Banisilan, Cotabato.
In their defense, the accused asserted that they can no longer be placed under suspension pendente lite as they had already served the Ombudsman’s suspension order in the related administrative case.
The Sandiganbayan junked this argument and ruled that “criminal and civil cases are altogether different from administrative matters, such that the first two will not inevitably govern or affect the third and vice versa.”
“As the validity of the Information in this case has already been established with the arraignment of the said accused, there appears to be no more legal obstacle to put them under preventive suspension,” the court added.
Jayma, et al., together with former Mayor Betty Allado are facing one count of violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act No. 3019) for the irregularities in the procurement of consultancy services for a water project in 2012.
Section 13 of R.A. No. 3019 provides that any incumbent public officer against whom any criminal prosecution under a valid information under this Act or under Title 7, Book II of the Revised Penal Code or for any offense involving fraud upon government or public funds or property whether as a simple or as a complex offense and in whatever stage of execution and mode of participation, is pending in court, shall be suspended from office. ###