Ruffy Biazon to appeal Sandiganbayan ruling on graft case
The team of reelected Mayor Ruffy Biazon said they will be filing a motion for reconsideration, seeking the anti-graft court to re-examine the ruling and citing his right to due process.
Muntinlupa Mayor Rozzano Rufino 'Ruffy' Biazon over the weekend said he will appeal Sandiganbayan's ruling that found him, along with five other respondents including businesswoman Janet Napoles, guilty of graft in connection to the alleged misuse of the priority development assistance fund (PDAF) in 2007.
In a statement issued by his spokesperson Atty. Mitchell-David Espiritu, the reelected mayor's team said they will be filing a motion for reconsideration, seeking the anti-graft court to re-examine the ruling and citing his right to due process.
'We respect the Sandiganbayan's decision as part of our justice system. However, we are surprised by the outcome, especially since Mayor Ruffy was previously acquitted of similar charges involving public funds,' Espiritu said in Filipino in a post on Biazon's official Facebook page.
'We remain hopeful that, like the earlier cases, Mayor Ruffy will ultimately be acquitted once due process has been completed. We intend to explore all legal remedies, beginning with a motion for reconsideration,' he added.
Biazon, along with businesswoman Janet Napoles and former government agency Technology Resource Center (TRC) officials Dennis Cunanan, Maria Rosalinda Lacsamana, and Evelyn De Leon were sentenced to six to eight years in jail and perpetual disqualification from public office after being found guilty of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
Court records showed that whistleblower Benhur Luy said Biazon received some P1.950 million through an authorized representative, and the public funds from Biazon's PDAF went to Napoles-run Philippine Social Development Foundation Inc. (PSDFI), a corporate entity that could not have been physically located at its declared address.
Biazon, for his part, argued that he merely endorsed the non-government organization (MGO) to the TRC, and that his signature was forged by the whistleblower.
The court meanwhile found that Biazon's endorsement functioned more as an instruction than a recommendation, and that there was no substantial evidence that he took steps to dispute or report the alleged forgery.
'Mayor Ruffy will continue to uphold the law — the same law that grants him the right to defend himself and to clear his name of these accusations,' Espiritu said.
'According to the law, Mayor Ruffy will stay in his post and fulfill the mandate entrusted to him by the people of Muntinlupa,' he added. —RF, GMA Integrated News
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
GMA Network
13 hours ago
- GMA Network
Senate OKs bill giving free funeral services for poor
The Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading the bill seeking to provide free funeral services to poor Filipino families. Senate Bill No. 2965, also known as the Free Funeral Services Act got 22 affirmative votes, zero negative vote, and zero abstention. It was sponsored by Senator Imee Marcos. The bill provides that free funeral services shall be provided to families who are in crisis situations, as determined by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), including but not limited to indigent families, or those affected by calamities, disasters, or other emergency circumstances that prevent them from affording dignified funeral services. To avail the package, the bereaved family or representative must present the following: -Valid identification card of the claimant or beneficiary; -Death certificate issued by the hospital or city/municipal health office, or certification from the tribal chieftain; =Funeral contract signed by the representative of the deceased's family, the funeral establishment, and an authorized DSWD personnel; and -Social case study prepared by any registered social worker. The DSWD shall be the lead agency in the implementation of the measure, while the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) shall monitor and regulate the current market prices of funeral services, including the price of caskets and urns, to prevent undue or excessive price increases. Aside from SB 2965, five other bills were approved on third and final reading: SB 890 or the Government Optimization Act; SB 2805 or the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board Act; and SB 2960 or the Lifelong Learning Development Framework Act. Also approved were SB 2974 or the Expanded Philippine Science High School (PSHS) System Act and SB 2975 or the Revised Animal Welfare Act. —LDF, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
14 hours ago
- GMA Network
Idea that impeachment trial may not proceed 'disturbing,' complainants' lawyer says
'Dapat ipagpatuloy, dapat litisin ng Senado 'yung Vice President and come up with a decision either acquitting or convicting the impeachable official. A no-impeachment trial scenario is a violation of the Constitution,' Ligutan said. A lawyer for some of the parties who filed an impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte said it was "disturbing" that there was a chance that the Senate, as an impeachment court, would not hear the articles of impeachment against her. Atty. Armando Virgil Ligutan, a counsel for those who filed the third impeachment complaint, said Article 11 of the Constitution only provided for the conviction or acquittal of the impeached official, not dismissal. 'Nakakabahala lang 'yung idea na pupwede hindi ipagpatuloy ng Senate 'yung isang constitutional duty, which is to try the Vice President in an impeachment trial," Ligutan said. (It is disturbing, the idea that it is an option for the Senate to not proceed with its constitutional duty to try the Vice President in an impeachment trial.) "For me, that is unthinkable within the four corners of the 1987 Constitution,' he added. 'Dapat ipagpatuloy, dapat litisin ng Senado 'yung Vice President and come up with a decision either acquitting or convicting the impeachable official. A no-impeachment trial scenario is a violation of the Constitution,' Ligutan added. (The Senate should proceed with the impeachment trial and come up with a decision.) Renato Reyes of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan said the impeachment trial was "a constitutional mandate" of the Senate. He said groups would protest in front of the Senate on Tuesday morning to assail the delays of the trial. Impeachment complainants will also hold a press conference at the House of Representatives at 11 a.m. to demand that the trial proceed forthwith. "The impeachment trial is a constitutional mandate and cannot be left to the discretion of the senators. It cannot be up to the 20th Congress in the sense that they will still determine whether or not the trial will push through," Reyes said. "It is their constitutional duty to push through with the trial under the 20th congress. It is our view that this is not something that should even be voted on by the senators of the 20th congress. The constitution is clear that a trial must commence," he added. Former legislator and ex-vice president Leni Robredo spokesman Atty. Barry Gutierrez today called out the Senate's apparent inaction on the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte. Gutierrez described the inaction as a blatant affront to the Constitution and to the will of the Filipino people. 'The Constitution mandates that after the House passes the Articles of Impeachment, the Senate shall forthwith proceed with the trial,' Gutierrez said. 'Hindi po ito isang suggestion, ito ay constitutional obligation (This is not a suggestion, but a constitutional obligation).' Senate President Francis Escudero on Monday said that it was up for the 20th Congress to decide whether the impeachment trial of Sara Duterte would proceed. Sara Duterte was impeached by the House of Representatives on February 5, with over 200 congressmen endorsing the articles of impeachment against her. This complaint, a consolidation of the three separate impeachment complaints filed against the Vice President by various groups, accuses her of betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and other high crimes mainly over alleged misuse of around P612.5 million worth of confidential funds and threatening to kill President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., his wife Liza and the President's cousin and Speaker and Leyte Representative Martin Romualdez. 'Now, it could be argued that dismissal is like acquittal. But for me, that would be engaging in legal gymnastics. We are stretching what is otherwise clear in the Constitution," said Fr. Flavie Villanueva, one of the convenors of the People's Impeachment Movement. "The Senate must proceed with a trial and either acquit or convict the impeachable official, who in this case is the Vice President of the Republic of the Philippines," he added. PIM's Pastor Leonard Arevalo, the Senior Pastor of the San Bartolome Christian Fellowship, then called on the Senate to rise above political pressure and act in defense of public interest. 'Hindi dapat bumigay ang Senado sa anumang pressure o impluwensiya. Dapat nitong gampanan ang kanyang tungkulin sa ilalim ng ating Saligang Batas at panagutin ang mga nagkasala sa bayan,' Arevalo said. (The Senate should not give in to pressure and influence and fulfill their mandate as stated in our Constitution: hold those who sinned against the country accountable.) –NB, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
15 hours ago
- GMA Network
Lindsay Custodio files anti-VAWC case against estranged husband
Lindsay Custodio has filed a case under the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act (Republic Act No. 9262) against her estranged husband, Frederick Cale. This was confirmed by Custodio's legal counsel, Atty. Hazel Meking, in a video statement sent to GMA News Online on Monday. 'Kinompirma natin na na-file na kanina [ni Lindsay] ang kasong Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children laban sa kanyang estranged husband,' Meking said in the video. [We confirm that Lindsay has officially filed a case under the Anti-VAWC law against her estranged husband.] According to the lawyer, it was only recently that Custodio fully understood the extent of the alleged abuse she had endured during their relationship. 'So, ngayon na-file na natin at inaasahan natin na makakakuha tayo ng hustisya para sa kanya dahil grabe ang trauma at ang depresyon at ang psychiatric medication niya na dinanas dito,' Meking said. [We have filed the case, and we are hoping to get justice because she went through severe trauma, depression, and had to take psychiatric medication because of her experience.] According to Meking, Lindsay allegedly suffered sexual abuse, psychological abuse, as well as verbal, emotional, and economic abuse. In March, Boy Abunda on 'Fast Talk with Boy Abunda' that Custodio had traveled to Cebu in connection to a cyber libel complaint filed against her by Cale. GMA News Online has been looking for Cale to get his side of the story. We'll update this story once we have it. — LA, GMA Integrated News
