Ex-mayor seeks Sandigan reconsideration

Mayor Celestino Martinez III of Bogo City, Cebu, is asking the Sandiganbayan to make another determination of the graft case filed against him by the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) over the alleged diversion of funds for livelihood loans in the agriculture sector in 2007.

Even though the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division already found probable cause, Celestino urged the anti-graft court to reconsider the case filed against him, which he claimed was based on an inaccurate interpretation of facts by the Commission on Audit (COA).

He is accused of allegedly diverting to a municipal employees’ cooperative in 2007 the 20 million funds from the Department Agriculture (DA) that was meant as livelihood loans for farmers and fishermen.

In his motion, Martinez said that the case against him was filed “on account of the opinion rendered by the COA that the MOA Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the (then) Municipality of Bogo and its employees’ cooperative are not in accordance with the first MOA between the municipality and the Department of Agriculture.”

Martinez pointed out that the Regional Trial Court Branch 61 of Bogo City issued last November 19 a favorable decision on his petition seeking the correct interpretation of the MOA with DA that was made March 23, 2007 regarding the implementation of the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) Banner Program and determine if it is in accordance with the MOA between the local government and the Municipal Employees Multi-Purpose Cooperative (BMEMPC).

The Bogo court also “declared the COA’s Final Notice of Disallowance which contains the adverse findings as null and void.”