The Sandiganbayan let former San Antonio, Nueva Ecija Mayor Antonio Lustre scot-free in a graft case involving P54.29 million of government funds.

Lustre escaped criminal liability after the anti-graft court granted his motion to quash, which he filed in late December last year with his co-accused Julito Galang, Daisy Pili, Mercy Reyes, Roberto Odulo and Constancia Salonga, all members of the municipal’s Bids and Awards Committee.

The local officials were charged with violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019) over the alleged anomalous construction of an integrated terminal complex and slaughterhouse to the tune of P54,280,000 in June 2014.

Graft probers alleged that the transaction was marred by irregularities as the erstwhile mayor and the BAC members entered into a contract with MB Eclar Trading and Construction prior to the enactment of Sangguniang Bayan Kapasiyahan Bilang 2014-091, which appropriated the sum. 

The raps were initiated by Lustre’s successor, ex-Mayor Arvin Salonga, to the Ombudsman, which the latter later elevated to the Sandiganbayan.

In their bid to obstruct the case, Lustre et. al affirmed that the Sandiganbayan lacks jurisdiction over the case citing the absence of an allegation of damage to the government or bribery, which falls under the court’s mandate.

Moreover, they contended that their rights to speedy disposition of the cases were violated since the Ombudsman took nearly seven years to endorse the case before the Sandiganbayan. 

“The totality of time it took from the filing of the affidavit-complaint effectively constitutes vexatious, inexcusable and notorious delay considering the issue of the case is not complicated and the record not voluminous — less than an inch thick,” the appellants argued, which the Sandiganbayan found meritorious and indisputable. 

Such length, according to the court, is unacceptable to complete the probe of a “simple” graft case.

In 2016, Lustre was also charged with plunder along with eight other municipal execs over P102 million worth of various project deals, including the integrated terminal complex and slaughterhouse project.