Pampanga mayor loses bid at Sandiganbayan to block 90-day suspension

MANILA, Philippines – The anti-graft court Sandiganbayan affirmed its resolution early this year to place a Pampanga mayor under 90-day preventive suspension over 194 pending criminal cases in connection with the Malampaya fund scam.

The mayor, Rene Maglanque of Candaba, Pampanga, was named co-accused in 97 counts of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and 97 counts of malversation of public funds, based on a 2017 indictment.

He was charged along with the late Department of Budget and Management secretary Rolando Andaya Jr., former DBM undersecretary Mario Relampagos, former Agrarian Reform (DAR) secretary Nasser Pangandaman, undersecretary Narciso Nieto, DAR Finance and Management Service director Teresita Panlilio, former chief accountant Angelita Cacananta, and chief administrative officer Ronald Venancio.

The private defendants were businesswoman Janet Napoles and her children Jo Christine and James Christopher; and employees Reynald Lim, Evelyn de Leon, Ronald Francisco Lim, Ronald John Bernardo Lim, John Raymund de Asis, Rodrigo Galay, Alejandro Garro, Paquito Dinso Jr., Gerald Apuang, Napoleon Sibayan and Winnie Villanueva.

Maglanque failed to secure a reprieve from the anti-graft court’s special third division, which voted 4-1 to affirm its January 19 resolution placing him under preventive suspension in its 18-page ruling dated April 24. The court denied his motion for reconsideration and extremely urgent ex-parte motion to stay execution.

Maglanque and most of his co-accused remained out of detention after posting reduced bail despite facing 194 criminal charges and were not barred from running for office in the absence of a final conviction.

Prosecutors told the court in an October 3, 2025 manifestation that Maglanque was elected mayor of Candaba in the 2025 midterm polls, prompting the court on the same day to order him to show cause why he should not be preventively suspended as the mayor.

Section 13 of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act requires the mandatory preventive suspension of public officials facing valid information, a rule upheld by the Supreme Court in a 2006 ruling.

Associate Justices Fritz Bryn Anthony delos Santos, Sarah Jane Fernandez, and Georgina Hidalgo joined the majority opinion penned by Associate Justice and Division chairperson Ronald Moreno. 

Associate Justice Ermin Ernest Louie Miguel dissented, noting that the accused was a private individual when the cases were filed and only assumed public office later. He said the mandatory character of Section 13, RA 3019, if applied “solely by a supervening assumption of public office long after the prosecution has commenced, would extend its operation beyond the circumstances that its language directly contemplates.” – Rappler.com