Sandiganbayan suspends hospital chief over machine purchase

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan on Wednesday granted the Office of the Ombudsman's request to suspend the head of the Quirino Memorial Medical Center (QMMC) and three other employees after being found guilty in an illegal procurement of a hospital machine.

In its ruling, the anti-graft court said QMMC top executive Angeles de Leon, nurse Luz Padua, nutritionist dietician Milagrina Jacinto and medical technologist Michael Raquel will be suspended for 90 days for violating the Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The Ombudsman prosecutor said the four respondents violated Section 3(e) of law in their involvement in the questionable purchase of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine worth P44.9 million from Fernando Medical Enterprises Inc.

In a five-page resolution, Associate Justice Efren Del Cruz, the Sandiganbayan cited Section 13 of the act providing that "the accused public official shall be suspended from office while the criminal prosecution is pending in court.”

"(The law) leaves no room for interpretation such that the court has neither the discretion nor duty to determine whether preventive suspension is required to prevent the accused from using his office to intimidate witnesses or frustrate his prosecution or continue committing malfeasance in office," the resolution stated.

The Sandiganbayan ordered the Department of Health to carry out the suspension of the respondents.