Sandiganbayan lifts arrest warrants vs 2 congressmen

MANILA, Philippines – Two Oriental Mindoro lawmakers convicted of graft involving P2.5-million vowed yesterday to clear their names as the Sandiganbayan lifted the warrants for their arrest.

Rep. Rodolfo Valencia and the counsel of Rep. Alfonso Umali Jr. appeared before the anti-graft court yesterday morning to justify their absence during the promulgation of their case last Tuesday.

Valencia said he failed to attend the hearing last Sept. 9 because he was suffering from hypertension.

Umali arrived in a wheelchair at the Sandiganbayan on Commonwealth Avenue from his hospital bed at the Philippine Heart Center for Asia in East Avenue, also in Quezon City, after the anti-graft court’s fourth division chaired by Associate Justice Gregory Ong refused to lift the warrant for his arrest unless he appears before the court.

Earlier, Umali’s counsel, Edna Herrera-Batacan, submitted to the court a medical certificate showing the condition of her client.

The fourth division granted Valencia’s petitions to lift the bench warrant against him.

Valencia said he believes that the case against them was tainted with “political color.”

“I’m very confident that we will be able to clear our names,” he told reporters yesterday.

“In fairness to the court, they were not provided with all necessary evidence. We have voluminous evidence to prove our innocence so we will file motion for reinvestigation.”

He vowed to elaborate on this issue during his privilege speech at the House of Representatives on Monday.

Valencia also cited his 21 years of service as governor and lawmaker and his award as most outstanding governor in handling calamities given by President Fidel Ramos.

Umali told the court he has been sleepless since the anti-graft court handed down his conviction last Tuesday.

“Last night (Thursday), my BP (blood pressure) shot up to 180/100 so they had to rush me to the hospital,” he told reporters yesterday.

“Right now, I’m feeling better. I really don’t have intention (to ignore promulgation). Actually, I’ve been in Manila since Tuesday, but I was told that I could skip the hearing since we had a motion to suspend promulgation.”

The anti-graft court gave the lawyers of Valencia and Umali 10 days to file their amended motions for reconsideration.

Valencia and Umali left the Sandiganbayan at around noon after posting an additional bail of P30,000 each.

The anti-graft court sentenced them to imprisonment of up to 10 years and perpetual disqualification from public offices after finding them guilty of conspiring with three other former provincial officials in violating Republic Act 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, for signing a loan contract with an engineer for a private purpose.

In defense, Valencia said the grant of the P2.5-million loan to ferryboat owner Alfredo Atienza did not involve any monetary benefit for him and his co-accused, but resulted in immense benefits for the people of Oriental Mindoro, who were then suffering from the devastating effects of three typhoons.

“The quick action of the provincial government resulted in the saving of lives, the rehabilitation of businesses and revival of the battered economy of the province,” he said.

“There was no basis for the accusation that the loan was disadvantageous to the government as it was fully secured by a collateral consisting of two ferryboats owned by Atienza and was further covered by post-dated checks.”

Valencia said President Ramos had placed Oriental Mindoro under a state of calamity and the loan was used for the repair and maintenance of Atienza’s ferryboat that subsequently provided transport services to the public.

At the time, the province was being serviced by the “uncooperative” monopoly of Viva Shipping Line which refused the provincial government’s plea for help in recovery efforts and the delivery of relief goods to far-flung areas, he added.

Valencia said the grant of the loan was allowed under the Local Government Code of 1991 which authorized local government units to exercise powers expressly granted to them in the furtherance of efficient and effective governance to promote the general welfare, Valencia said.

“Moreover, the grant of the loan was authorized by the provincial board under Sangguniang Panlalawigan Resolution No. 284-93,” he said.

Atienza was also convicted of graft by the Sandiganbayan and sentenced to suffer the same penalty, along with three other accused, then Vice Gov. Pedrito Reyes and provincial board members Jose Enriquez and Jose Leynes.

The anti-graft court ruled that the loan granted by Valencia and Umali, then governor and provincial administrator of Oriental Mindoro, to Atienza for the “repair, operations, and maintenance” of transport vessel MV Ace which intended to ply the route of Calapan, Oriental Mindoro to Batangas and vice versa was “grossly and manifestly disadvantageous to the government.” – Edu Punay