QUEZON CITY (March 9, 2024) — Granted.
This was the decision by the Sandiganbayan in Gerona, Tarlac mayor Eloy Eclar’s Motion to Dismiss and/or Quash Information dated Dec. 5, 2023.
Eclar claimed that his right to speedy disposition of cases guaranteed by the 1987 Constitution was violated.
In the Sandiganbayan Second Division’s resolution promulgated on March 4, 2024, it granted the following to Eclar:
- Motion to Dismiss And/Or Quash Information dated December 5, 2023, filed by accused Eloy Castillo Eclar;
- Motion to Quash/Dismiss (For Lack of Jurisdiction and Violation of Accused’s Constitutional Right to Speedy Disposition of Cases and to Speedy Trial) dated Dec. 27, 2023, filed by accused Antonino Lustre, Daisy Pili, Mercy Reyes, Constancia Salonga, Roberto Odulio and Julito Galang.
“The Information dated August 23, 2023 filed in this case is hereby quashed and the case dismissed for violation of the right of the accused to speedy disposition of cases guaranteed under Article III, Section 16 of the 1987 Constitution,” the Court ordered.
The Sandiganbayan Resolution was signed by Associate Justices Oscar Herrera, Edgardo Caldona, and Arthur Malabaguio.
The case stemmed from a June 6, 2014 case – before Eclar was elected as Gerona Mayor – involving a P54,280,000 Integrated Terminal Complex and Slaughterhouse project in San Antonio, Nueva Ecija.
The accusatory portion of the Information read that the accused Lustre (Municipal Mayor), Bustamante (Municipal Engineer), Pili (Municipal Treasurer and BAC Member), Mercy Reyes (acting Municipal Budget Officer and BAC Member), Salonga (Acting Municipal Accountant), “while in the performance of their respective official functions, acting with evident bad faith, manifest partiality or gross inexcusable negligence and in conspiracy with one another and with Eloy Castillo Eclar, General Manager and Michael Simeon Galang, Attorney-in-Fact, both of MB Eclar Trading and Construction (MB Eclar), did and then and there willfully, unlawfully and criminally confer unwarranted benefits and advantage on MB Eclar.
