No case against Braganza, PAGC member claims

A commissioner of the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) has inhibited himself from hearing the complaint filed against Agrarian Reform Secretary Hernani Braganza as he insisted that there was no prima facie case established by complainants.

Commissioner Cesar Buenaflor decided to inhibit himself from the hearing after the anti-graft body overruled his recommendation to dismiss the complaint against Braganza for lack of jurisdiction.

The complaint was filed by officers of the DAR Employees Association (DAREA), who claimed in a joint-affidavit that Braganza committed fiscal mismanagement in celebrating the 14th anniversary of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) last June.

"After a thorough perusal and study of the above-mentioned joint-affidavit, it is the opinion of the undersigned that no prima facie case has been established, hence recommends dismissal of the case," Buenaflor said in a three-page report to the commission.

Buenaflor noted that while the complainants presented certain documents showing the expenditures during the 14th CARP anniversary, nothing in the documents showed that the Commission on Audit suspended or disallowed these expenditures.

The PAGC commissioner also pointed out that the complainants failed to substantiate their allegation that Braganza "has the propensity for profligacy" in all activities undertaken by the department.

Aside from Buenaflor, other members of the commission include Chairman Dario Rama and Teresita Baltazarivil. — Katherine Adraneda