Arrest order vs. ex-DBM usec out

FILE: Sandiganbayan (Photo By Patrick Roque, CC BY-SA 4.0)

MANILA — The Sandiganbayan has issued the warrant of arrest against former Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Undersecretary Mario Relampagos for failing to return from his trip to the United States within the period allowed by the anti-graft court.

The travel authority granted by the Sandiganbayan to Relampagos permitted him to leave the Philippines from Dec. 2, 2017 to Jan. 1, 2018.

As of this writing, the former DBM Undersecretary has yet to return to the Philippines.

The anti-graft court’s Seventh Division also ordered the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to immediately cancel the passport of Relampagos.

At the same time, the Sandiganbayan ordered the Office of the Ombudsman to initiate extradition proceedings against Relampagos.

The former DBM executive is one of the officials named as co-accused in several alleged anomalies in the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), or pork barrel scam cases.

Detained businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles is the alleged “brains” behind the PHP10-billion pork barrel and the PHP900-million Malampaya Fund scams.

Likewise, the Sandiganbayan ordered Relampagos’s lawyers Godofredo de Guzman, Arnold Caga, and Christopher John Lao to explain why they should not be cited in contempt for failure to comply with their affidavit of undertaking, which they executed to allow their clients to travel abroad. (PNA)