Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 13) —The Sandiganbayan has granted the plea of state prosecutors to drop graft charges against Philippine Phosphate Fertilizer Corp. (PhilPhos) executive Tomas A. Guibani over his alleged involvement in the illegal purchase of fertilizers in 2003.
State prosecutors filed a motion to withdraw the charges in line with the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision ordering the anti-graft court to drop the cases against former agriculture secretary Luis Lorenzo and former National Food Authority administrator Arthur Yap for violation of their right to speedy disposition of cases.
Lorenzo and Yap were accused of authorizing the purchase of over 90,000 bags of fertilizer worth ₱46 million from PhilPhos through negotiated procurement instead of public bidding.
“There being insufficient evidence to show conspiracy, the court finds that the withdrawal of the Informations is proper,” the Sandiganbayan Sixth Division said in its resolution dated July 7.
The Sandiganbayan previously denied Guibani’s motion to junk his cases following the high court’s ruling on the dismissal of the charges against Lorenzo and Yap.It said Guibani failed to show that his right to speedy disposition of cases was violated as well, and ordered prosecutors to submit additional evidence.However, after reexamining the additional evidence, the Court found insufficient ground to prove that Guibani conspired with Lorenzo and Yap.
