Graft raps vs. Surigao City vice mayor, 5 others junked

FILE: The Sandiganbayan has dismissed the graft cases filed against Surigao City Vice Mayor Alfonso Casurra and five others, on the alleged PHP723-million fertilizer fund scam, for too much delay. (Photo By Patrick Roque, CC BY-SA 4.0)

MANILA — The Sandiganbayan has dismissed the graft cases filed against Surigao City Vice Mayor Alfonso Casurra and five others, on the alleged PHP723-million fertilizer fund scam, for too much delay.

In a 15-page resolution promulgated on Nov. 27, 2017, the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division said it approved the quashal motion of Casurra after taking fault on the Office of the Ombudsman (Ombudsman) for allowing the case to take more than 11 years before it was filed before the anti-graft court.

“The foregoing considered, it is beyond cavil that the lengthy and unwarranted delay of more than 11 years caused prejudice and anxiety to the accused,” the Sandiganbayan resolution written by Associate Justice Ma. Theresa Mendoza-Arcega said.

“Verily, the Court has no other recourse but to uphold the constitutional right of the accused-movants to a speedy disposition of cases and the instant case must be therefore dismissed,” the resolution added.

The anti-graft court also ordered the lifting of Casurra’s hold departure order (HDO) and the release of his cash bonds.

Likewise, the Sandiganbayan also dismissed the cases of Casurra’s co-accused, namely, Jocelyn Monteros, Leonardo Edera, Jr., Maria Separa Geotina, Armando Elumba, and Carlo Reynaldo Lozada, Jr.

The graft case arose from the complaint filed by the Ombudsman’s Task Force Abono, alleging that the Department of Budget and Management issued a special allotment release order (SARO) worth PHP723 million for the implementation of farm inputs and farm implements program of the Department of Agriculture.

The said SARO allotted a total amount of PHP5 million for Surigao City.

Casurra and his five co-accused then entered into a contract with Rosa “Mia” Trading for the purchase of 3,332 kilograms of foliar fertilizer worth PHP5 million without public bidding.

The first tranche of the payment was made on Dec. 23, 2004.

On June 14, 2006 and amended in March 2007, the Commission on Audit (COA) issued a notice of disallowance on the project.

The Ombudsman found probable cause to file the complaint on March 22, 2017.

Casurra and his five co-accused were charged before the Sandiganbayan on June 13, 2017.

In his quashal motion, Casurra argued that his case had an “unexplained hiatus” for five years from the time COA issued the notice and the filing of the complaint, or a total delay of 11 years from the fact-finding investigation to the formal filing.

The anti-graft court said the prosecution gave no plausible reason as to why the case took more than a decade aside from its arguments that it would take a considerable amount of time for graft investigators to resolve the matter given the scheme’s magnitude.

“No other plausible reason was given by the prosecution to explain why the instant case dragged for more than 11 years,” the Sandiganbayan resolution said.

The anti-graft court called the prosecution’s excuse as “no longer appealing.”

“The prosecution failed to convince us that the inordinate delay in the resolution of this case is attributable to the accused,” the Sandiganbayan added.