‘Ex-Siquijor gov guilty of obstruction of justice’

THE Sandiganbayan has found former Siquijor governor Orlando Fua Jr. guilty of obstruction of justice in connection with the serving of a search warrant against a drug suspect in 2010 and ordered his perpetual disqualification from

Fua was charged in 2014 with violation of Presidential Decree 1829 that penalizes those who obstruct the apprehension and prosecution of criminal offenders.

- gated on Friday the anti- graft court’s Seventh Division said Fua was aware of the service of a search warrant to his childhood friend and “[he] acknowledged this when he testified that he received an anonymous text message prompting him to proceed to the scene of the operation...”

“It should be noted that what transpired was a normal police operation for the purpose of en- snaring drug personalities in the province. There are no matters that involved the province itself or an immediate concern that would require the actual intervention by the provincial governor himself. However, instead of keeping his hands off by simply acknowledging the search warrant validly issued by the court and allow the continuously, accused interfered by repeatedly challenging its validity and intervened in a legitimate police operation,” the court said in part.

he “shall be required to undergo subsidiary imprisonment” in case

Associate Justice Zaldy Trespeses penned the ruling that was concurred in by Associate Justices Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomes-Estoesta, who leads the Seventh Division, and Bayani Jacinto.