SC junks DBM exec’s TRO plea on ‘pork’ case

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) has rejected a plea filed by Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos seeking to stop the trial on graft charges he is facing before the Sandiganbayan in connection with the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam.

The high court on Tuesday denied Relampagos’ application for a temporary restraining order  seeking to stop the Sandiganbayan from proceeding with the graft case.

The SC also ordered the anti-graft court to answer Relampagos’ petition within 10 days from receipt of notice before it resolves the merits of the case.

In his petition before the SC last year, the budget official questioned the Sandiganbayan’s denial of his challenge to the ombudsman’s finding of probable cause against him.

Relampagos and his staff – Rosario Nuñez, Lalaine Paule, and Marilou Bare – were indicted by the ombudsman for allegedly being the contacts of alleged pork scam brains Janet Lim-Napoles at the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

Citing whistle-blower Benhur Luy’s testimony, the ombudsman alleged that the DBM personnel facilitated the release of special allotment release orders (SAROs) and notice of cash allocations (NCAs) for the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of three senators charged with plunder with Napoles.

Investigation showed the signatures of Relampagos appeared on SAROs that facilitated the release of the senators’ PDAF to Napoles’ bogus non-government organizations.

The Sandiganbayan, however, found out that Relampagos’ signature did not appear in other SAROs attributed to him, prompting it to dismiss eight of the 16 cases against the DBM official and his three personnel.