Sandigan junks case vs. Danao mayor

Danao City Mayor Ramonito Duterte Durano III

The anti-graft court has junked the administrative case against Danao City Mayor Ramonito Duterte Durano III in relation to his failure to implement decisions ordering the reinstatement of city government employees.

The dismissal of the case was a result of the Sandiganbayan’s granting of the motion filed by the prosecution seeking to recall the information filed against Durano, a relative of President Rodrigo Duterte.

“After careful review of the records, it appears that the prosecution’s evidence is not sufficient to uphold a conviction for the crime charged. Wherefore, the Motion for Leave to Withdraw Information filed by the prosecution on 17 June 2019, is hereby granted,” the decision read.

Durano faced before the court charges for violation of Section 67, Book V, Executive Order 292, in relation to Section 121 of the Revised Rules on Administrative Cases in Civil Service (RRACCS) after he failed to implement a Civil Service Commission (CSC) decision dated 14 August 2014 and resolution dated 28 October 2014.

The prosecution, in moving for the withrawal of the case, said Durano “merely exhausted all legal remedies available to him before he implemented the subject decision of the CSC and that there was no willful refusal or failure to implement the final resolution, decision, order or ruling of the CSC.”

It also stated that Durano fully complied with the decision of the CSC before the case was filed against him by the Office of the Ombudsman on 12 January 2018.

In its ruling, the Sandiganbayan said to constitute violation of RRACCS, the employee must willfully refuse to implement a CSC order.

“Considering that this is still at the pre-trial stage, a withrawal of the information would not harm public interest especially because of the apparent dearth in the evidence yet to be presented by the prosecution,” it added.

The resolution was authored by Associate Justice Theresa Mendoza-Arcega and concurred in by Associate Justices Rafael Lagos and MaryAnn Corpus-Mañalac.