Sandiganbayan merges Co charges

THE Philippines’ anti-graft court has approved a motion by state prosecutors to merge corruption charges against a former lawmaker at the center of a brewing scandal over anomalous flood control projects.

In a three-page resolution, the Sandiganbayan Sixth Division approved a motion that would consolidate two separate graft charges involving resigned Party-list Rep. Elizaldy S. Co and several officials linked to misuse of public funds.

Lawyer Ruy Albert S. Rondain, Mr. Co’s counsel, did not immediately reply to a Viber message seeking comment.

Mr. Co’s first graft charge was initially raffled to the anti‑graft court’s Fifth Division, and the Sixth Division said in its resolution that consolidating the case would require acceptance from the Fifth.

“The two cases emanated from the same set of facts and arose from the same series of transactions, involving the same parties, and will utilize substantially the same witnesses and documentary evidence during the trial,” prosecutors said in the filing, based on the resolution.

The complaints against Mr. Co and other officials stemmed from a P289.5-million dike project running along a river in the province of Oriental Mindoro, south of Manila. The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) had flagged irregularities in the procurement, construction, and implementation of the flood control project.

“The consolidation of the two cases will promote the speedy disposition of cases, serve the convenience of the parties and the interest of justice, and prevent conflicting rulings on the same set of facts,” the resolution, signed by Associate Justices Sarah Jane T. Fernandez, Kevin Narce B. Vivero and Lord A. Villanueva. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio