Sandiganbayan issues HDO vs. Guv, et al
LINGAYEN— No problem.
This was the reaction of Gov. Amado T. Espino Jr. to the recent order of the Sandiganbayan’s Sixth Division order banning Gov. Amado Espino Jr. and 13 other individuals from leaving the country when it issued a Hold Departure Order (HDO) for the graft charges they are facing over alleged black sand mining in Lingayen Gulf.
In a directive based on a resolution adopted on March 21, 2016, magistrates of the anti-graft court’s sixth division chaired by Associate Justice Rodolfo Ponferrada ordered the Bureau of Immigration not to allow Mr. Espino and others to leave the country without clearance.
Mr. Espino conveyed his reaction through a text message sent by Provincial Information Officer Orpheus Velasco.
“In the first place, the Governor has not yet read that order and he has no plans whatsoever to leave the country,” Velasco said.
Aside from the governor, covered by the HDO under SB-16-CRM-0118 entitled People vs. Amado Totaan Espino et al for violation of Sec. 3 (e) R.A. 3019 are former Provincial Administrator Rafael Baraan, Cesar Detera, Edwin Alcazar, Lolita Bolayog, Denise Ann Sia Kho Po, Annlyn Detera, Cynthia Camara, Gleen Subia and Emiliano Buenavista, all of Alexandra Mining and Oil Ventures Inc.
The other case docketed as SB 16-CRM-0119 included former housing and urban development coordinating officer Alvin Bigay, Michael Ramirez, Gina Alcazar and Avery Pujol of Xypher Builders Inc.
Baraan and Bigay were dismissed from service by the Ombudsman in an earlier decision.
The Ombudsman charged Espino with two counts of graft at the Sandiganbayan for allegedly authorizing unlawful magnetite extraction activities in favor of an unqualified contractor along the coastal barangays of Lingayen.
The Ombudsman said the government also lost P10.7 million for allowing the export of the extracted minerals to China in 2011.
The Ombudsman affirmed its decision to indict Espino and the other respondents in January, noting that Presidential Proclamation 1258 issued in 1998 declared Lingayen Gulf as an environmentally critical area. (Tita Roces)
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