Sandigan junks ex-LRTA chief’s bid to dismiss rap

The Sandiganbayan has affirmed its ruling finding sufficient ground to try former Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) administrator Melquiades “Mel” Robles for the alleged anomalous implementation of a janitorial service deal in 2009.

In a four-page resolution dated May 9, the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division said the issues Robles and 10 other respondents raised in their motions praying for the dismissal of the case “were matters of defense that could only be threshed out in a fullblown trial on the merits.”

The ruling was penned by division chairman Associate Justice Rafael Lagos, with Associate Justices Reynaldo Cruz and Maria Theresa Mendoza-Arcega concurring.

They stressed that “absent any showing that the (charge) is invalid in form and substance or that the prosecution committed manifest error or grave abuse of discretion, a judge should not override the public prosecutor’s determination of probable cause to hold the accused on trial.”

Filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in February, the case stemmed from the alleged anomalous implementation of a janitorial service contract that the LRTA entered into with the joint venture of COMM Builders and Technology Philippines, PMP Inc. and Gradski Soabracaj GRAS in January 2009, which was extended until July 2013.

The anti-graft office said the LRTA officials gave unwarranted benefits to the joint venture by paying P3.37 million per month for the services of 321 janitors and maintenance workers in LRT Line 1 when only 219 personnel were actually deployed.

The ombudsman said this caused undue injury to the LRTA worth P1.07 million per month or P12.8 million for 2009 alone.

Robles’ co-accused in the case were former LRTA officials Federico Canar Jr., Dennis Francisco, Evelyn Macalino, Marilou Liscano, Elmo Stephen Triste, Eduardo Abiva, Nicholas Ombao, Roger Vaño, Maynard Tolosa and Juliet Labisto as well as private individuals Lilia Diaz and Dennis Acorda of COMM Builders.