Graft raps vs ex-Antique mayor junked

Due to the “inordinate delay” of the Office of the Ombudsman in investigating the case, the Sandiganbayan has dismissed a graft complaint filed against former mayor Mary Joyce Roquero of Valderrama, Antique.

The anti-graft court granted Roquero’s motion to dismiss the case, citing the supposed violation of her right to speedy trial.

In a ruling released recently, Sandiganbayan Fifth Division chairman Associate Justice Efren de la Cruz said the case was not complicated.

De la Cruz said the more than four-year period that the ombudsman spent on the investigation could be considered inordinate, capricious and oppressive.

Records showed that in October 2012, a complaint was filed against Roquero before the Office of the Om- budsman-Visayas.

The complaint stemmed from a contract signed by the municipal government for the lease of a sound system that was used for the celebration of the town’s Panubason Festival.

The sound system was owned by Roquero’s son.

In August 2016, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales approved a resolution finding probable cause to indict Roquero.

The case was formally filed before the Sandiganbayan in February this year.

The anti-graft court said the ombudsman dismissed the administrative aspect of the case in 2013. It said it was unjustifiable that it took the prosecution more than four years to rule on the criminal aspect.

The Sandiganbayan rejected the prosecution’s argument that Roquero did not assert her constitutional right to speedy trial.