Ex-Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista and his cohort, former city administrator Aldrin Cuña, failed to persuade the Sandiganbayan to dismiss their P32-million graft charge.

This was after the anti-graft court Seventh Division junked their motion for leave to file demurrer to evidence in a 23-page resolution.

A demurrer to evidence is a pleading by the accused to dismiss the case brought by the defense due to lack of evidence. Once granted in a criminal case, it constitutes an acquittal.

The former local officials were charged with violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019) for awarding a contract to Geodata Solutions Inc. for the procurement of an online occupational permitting and tracking system to the tune of P32,107,912.

The Ombudsman flagged anomalies in the deal, such as conspiracy, among others, between Bautista and Cuña for releasing the payment to Geodata despite the absence of a specific appropriation ordinance enacted by the Sangguniang Panglungsod, which holds the purse.

Moreover, graft probers also discovered that the multi-million project was not completely delivered at the time of the payment in June 2019.

Bautista served three consecutive mayoral terms before he was term-limited in 2019.

In their bid to obstruct the case, Bautista and Cuña demurred with the prosecution’s findings because it failed to establish the elements of graft and the presence of connivance.

Bautista washed his hands of the crime, contending that the irregularities could not be attributed to him given his position as the mayor and not being a Bids and Awards Committee member who was directly involved in the bidding process.

Furthermore, the erstwhile mayor claimed that no conspiracy transpired between him and Cuña because the documents pertaining to the project were prepared by different officials of the Quezon City government.

However, the prosecution countered that while direct proof is not essential to prove a conspiracy, the fact that they both “actively participated” to ensure the prompt release of funds to Geodata, notwithstanding the incomplete delivery of the project and the lack of an appropriate ordinance, was already a validation.

“In fact, no online occupation permitting system, or software application, was fully functional at the end of June 2019; yet, both accused Bautista and Curia enabled payment for the project despite such circumstances,” the prosecution said.