2 congressmen ordered arrested

MANILA, Philippines –  The Sandiganbayan ordered yesterday the arrest of the two Oriental Mindoro congressmen convicted of graft for misusing P2.5 million in public funds when they were provincial executives 15 years ago.

The arrest warrants were issued as Rep. Rodolfo Valencia of the First District of Oriental Mindoro and Rep. Alfonso Umali Jr. of the province’s Second District filed an appeal, asking the anti-graft court to reconsider its ruling.

Sources said the warrants of arrest were not served yesterday due to bad weather caused by typhoon “Marce.”

Sandiganbayan Sheriff Ed Urrieta confirmed that the warrants were issued for the two congressmen, who were found guilty of conspiring with three other former provincial officials in violating the anti-graft law.

Valencia and Umali asked the court to lift the warrants issued against them pending the resolution of their motion for reconsideration.

The clerk of court said the Fourth Division has set the hearing on the petitions of the congressmen tomorrow, even as the sheriff clarified that the arrest warrants would be served despite the motion for reconsideration.

Sources said the sheriff would ask the assistance of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and National Bureau of Investigation to enforce the arrest orders.

The sheriff will also send a copy of the warrants to the Bureau of Immigration to prevent Valencia and Umali from leaving the country.

In an ABS-CBN interview, Valencia said he filed a motion for reconsideration before the anti-graft court and that he plans to post bail for his temporary freedom.

“The decision is still subject to reconsideration and it can be brought to the Supreme Court. There are so many ways to appeal the arrest order,” he said.

Umali said the decision was unfair and vowed to post bail and file a motion for reconsideration before the anti-graft court, as he maintained his innocence.

“I just followed a legal order from the Sanggunian as provincial administrator, which is ministerial to me, and signed a request for obligation of allotment,” he said in a text message to reporters.

He said that then governor Valencia’s order was never revoked, much less questioned in any tribunal, which constrained him to implement such lawful order, “lest I be guilty of dereliction of duty or defiance of a lawful order.”

“This is an unfortunate decision which may have overlooked many factual and legal issues, and may have failed to consider my ministerial involvement in this particular case,” said Umali.

“I was merely a provincial administrator who had no discretion but to implement, in all honesty and good faith, a lawful order passed by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, and approved by the governor,” he added.

Valencia was governor of Oriental Mindoro while Umali was provincial administrator when they allegedly committed the offense.

The Fourth Division of the Sandiganbayan, chaired by Associate Justice Gregory Ong, sentenced the two congressmen to 10 years in prison and perpetual disqualification from holding public office after they were convicted of graft and corruption for authorizing the provincial government to grant a P2.5-million loan to a private businessman for the repair and maintenance of a private passenger ship.

Ong found Valencia and Umali guilty of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act 3019) when they conspired with other provincial officials and used a government-obtained loan to fund the use of a privately owned ferryboat.

In a 29-page decision penned by Associate Justice Jose Hernandez, the anti-graft court said Valencia and Umali conspired with three other former provincial officials in violating Sections 3 (e) and 3 (g) of RA 3019 when they forged a loan contract with an engineer that served a private purpose.

Engr. Alfredo Atienza, recipient of the loan, was also convicted of graft by the Sandiganbayan and sentenced to the same penalty imposed on the two lawmakers and three other accused, then Vice Gov. Pedrito Reyes and provincial board members Jose Enriquez and Jose Leynes.

The court ruled that the loan granted by Valencia and Umali to Atienza for the “repair, operations, and maintenance” of transport vessel M/V Ace, which intended to ply the route of Calapan, Oriental Mindoro to Batangas and vice versa, was “grossly and manifestly disadvantageous to the government.”

The accused raised good faith in granting the loan as their defense, saying they only committed “an error or mistake on a difficult question of law.”

This argument, however, was junked by the court, which ruled that the use of public funds for private purpose in the case was “unmistakable.”

The provincial board of Oriental Mindoro passed in December 1993 a resolution authorizing Valencia, then governor, to enter into a credit agreement extending a loan of P2.5 million to Atienza for the operation of M/V Ace.

In January 1994, the provincial government entered into a loan agreement with the Land Bank of the Philippines, which agreed to loan the amount and issued a check to the provincial government.

Provincial treasurer Manuel Leycano reminded the governor that the credit agreement needed the concurrence of the provincial board, but Valencia issued a memorandum directing Leycano to release the amount as a loan.

Umali certified the expense as necessary and lawful in the disbursement voucher. The voucher indicated that Atienza received the check.

The ethics committee of the House of Representatives cannot immediately sanction the two Oriental Mindoro congressmen convicted of graft by the Sandiganbayan because the offense was committed when the convicted lawmakers were still local executives in 1993.

Romblon Rep. Eleandro Jesus Madrona, chairman of the committee, said the panel could not interfere in the case of Valencia and Umali.

“I believe we cannot interfere in the issue because I think we cannot have jurisdiction on this as it happened when they were not members of Congress,” he said.

Madrona, however, clarified that his committee could still conduct an inquiry into the case of Valencia and Umali if a “third party” will file a complaint before the panel.

He said the panel would meet once Speaker Prospero Nograles orders them to decide on whether there are grounds to conduct an inquiry into the case of the two congressmen. With Delon Porcalla