Sentencing of ex-DPWH chief deferred

MANILA, Philippines - Former public works and highways secretary Florante Soriquez’s nine-year prison sentence for graft was postponed pending the resolution of his petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court.

The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division chaired by Associate Justice Roland Jurado last Friday moved the execution of judgment to March 2 next year.

Soriquez and four other former DPWH officials, supervising engineers Rey David, Ulysis Manago, Juan Gonzales, and Gil Rivera were found guilty of graft and criminal negligence in January this year.

The charges against them arose from the collapse of a section of the P38.29-million Pampanga Megadike 15 years ago, which caused flooding in at least three towns in 1996.

Soriquez, who was then the program director of the Mount Pinatubo Rehabilitation-Project Management Office, was also ordered to pay the government P12.7 million to cover repairs.

He questioned the Sandiganbayan ruling through a petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court which is yet to be resolved up to now.

Government lawyers handling the case led by Deputy Special Prosecutor John Turalba are moving to have the petition dismissed which will allow Soriquez and four other DPWH officials to serve their jail sentences.