Sandiganbayan won’t lift hold order on Garcia

MANILA, Philippines - The Sandiganbayan’s second division rejected yesterday the motion of Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia to lift the hold departure order (HDO) against her for lack of merit.

“An HDO is but an exercise of a court’s inherent power to preserve and to maintain the effectiveness of its jurisdiction over the person of the accused,” the anti-graft court’s Second Division chaired by Associate Justice Teresita Diaz-Baldos said in an an eight-page resolution, quoting a previous ruling by the Supreme Court.

“The court issued orders of arrest against movant. It would be illogical to order her arrest but freely allow her to depart for abroad,” the Sandiganbayan ruling added.

The HDO was filed last August in connection with two graft charges and a technical malversation case filed against Garcia over the alleged questionable purchase of a 24.7-hectare property worth over P98 million for a housing project in Tinaan, Naga City.

Garcia asked the Sandiganbayan to lift the HDOs, saying the Office of the Ombudsman has yet to act on her motion to nullify her indictment.

CA to hear TRO petition

The Court of Appeals (CA) is set to hear today the petition of Garcia to stop Malacañang from enforcing her suspension for six months.

The 12th division of the appellate court will hear Garcia’s petition starting at 10 a.m. at the Paras Hall.

Garcia’s legal team will be led by Tranquil Salvador III, one of the lawyers of former chief justice Renato Corona in his impeachment trial last year. The governor’s daughter, Christina Garcia-Franco is also part of the team.

The CA division – composed of Associate Justices Vicente Veloso, Eduardo Peralta Jr. and Aurora Jane Lantion – did not act on the petition during their deliberations last Jan. 2.

The justices instead ordered the Office of the President and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to answer Garcia’s petition.

In a petition filed last Dec. 21, Garcia alleged that Malacañang violated Section 66 of the Local Government Code, which states that the Office of the President should decide the fate of local officials 30 days after an investigation. – With Delon Porcalla, Christina Mendez, Cecille Suerte Felipe