FORMER Quezon City mayor Herbert “Bistek” Bautista pleaded ‘not guilty’ during the arraignment at the Sandigan on Thursday over the P32.1 million graft charge presented to him.
Bautista was charged with graft in the alleged irregular payment to Geodata Solutions, Inc. of P32,107,912 for the procurement of online occupational permitting and tracking system.
Earlier, the anti-graft court had dismissed Bautista’s motion to junk the graft charge for alleged violation of his right to speedy disposition of case.
He claimed that complaint was filed against him on Dec. 13, 2019, but it took more than three years to conclude the preliminary investigation. The graft charge against him was filed before the Sandiganbayan only last March 15.
In denying his motion to dismiss, the Sandiganbayan ruled: “Given the entirety of the events surrounding the preliminary investigation carried out by the Ombudsman and considering that the accused only faults the prosecution based solely on its mathematical computation of time lapsed, the delay attributable to the preliminary investigation does not appear to be unreasonable.”
With the denial, the anti-graft court set Bautista’s arraignment.
There is another graft charge pending against Bautista on the payment of P25.3 million to Cygnet Energy and Power Asia Inc.
Prosecutors said that Bautista and his co-accused, then city administrator Aldrin C. Cuña, made the full payment to Cygnet for the supply and installation of Solar Power System and Waterproofing Works for the city’s Civic Center Building.
But the prosecutors alleged that Cygnet was not entitled to the said amount due to its failure to get the Net Metering System from Manila Electric Company which is a requirement of the Supply and Delivery Agreement.
