Bataan gov, 3 others suspended for 6 months

The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the preventive suspension for six months of Bataan Gov. Enrique Garcia Jr. and three other local officials over graft charges involving an alleged anomaly in the sale of a private property three years ago.

In a 16-page order, Deputy Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro suspended Garcia, provincial legal officer Aurelio Angeles Jr., provincial treasurer Emerlinda Talento, and Balanga City administrator Rodolfo de Mesa pending their trial on charges of plunder, falsification of public documents, and malversation of public funds in the Sandiganbayan.

Casimiro ordered the Department of the Interior and Local Government to immediately implement the suspension.

Garcia, however, dismissed his suspension as mere “political vendetta.”

He said they could not be suspended as they have filed a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court.   – Edu Punay, Raffy Viray