Floirendo appeal to dismiss graft raps junked anew

Davao del Norte second district Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr. should stand trial for graft in connection with his alleged unlawful financial interests in a banana plantation doing business with the government, the Sandiganbayan has maintained.

In a resolution promulgated on Sept. 11 and released yesterday, the antigraft court’s sixth division denied Floirendo’s motion to reverse its Aug. 7 ruling, which affirmed the validity of the case filed by the Office of the Ombudsman against the congressman earlier this year for violation of Section 3 (h) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The court said it found no merit on Floirendo’s argument that his “mere nominal shareholding” at the Tagum Agricultural Development Co. Inc. (Tadeco) is insufficient to charge him with graft.

Section 3 (h) of RA 3019 prohibits government officials from “directly or indirectly having financial or pecuniary interest in any business, contract or transaction... in which he is prohibited by the Constitution or by any law from having any interest.”

The Sandiganbayan said it was sufficiently alleged in the case that Floirendo holds 75,000 shares of stock of Tadeco worth P7.5 million.

Floirendo argued that under Article 6, Section 14 of the 1987 Constitution, senators and congressmen are prohibited to hold only “substantial” interests in private corporations and from using their position or influence to advance contracts between the corporations and the government.

However, the Sandiganbayan said Floirendo’s arguments are ”matters of defense which are better threshed out during the trial.”

The case against Floirendo stemmed from his alleged illegal financial interests with Tadeco, a banana plantation which entered into a joint venture agreement with the Bureau of Corrections in 1969.

The agreement allowed Tadeco to lease 3,000 hectares of land in the Davao Penal Colony for its banana plantation.