The Sandiganbayan ordered the 90-day suspension pendente lite of Sangguniang Panlungsod member Nolly Concepcion of San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan.
Concepcion is facing trial for violation of Usurpation of Official Function under Article 177 of the Revised Penal Code.
The Office of the Ombudsman found that under the pretense of official position, Concepcion unlawfully discharged the functions of vice-mayor from September 2009 to October 2009 despite orders from the Department of the Interior and Local Government directing him to relinquish the position of vice-mayor and revert back to his original position as city councilor.
In the Sandiganbayan Resolution, the court stated that “the court possesses no discretion to determine whether a preventive suspension is necessary to forestall the possibility that the accused may use his office to intimidate witnesses, or frustrate his prosecution, or continue committing malfeasance. The presumption is that unless the accused is suspended, he may frustrate the prosecution of the case, commit further acts of malfeasance, or do both.”
Section 13 of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act No. 3019) makes it mandatory for the court to suspend any incumbent public officer or employee against whom any criminal prosecution under a valid information under the Act or under Title 7, Book II of the Revised Penal Code, or for any offense involving fraud upon government or public funds or property, whether as a simple or as a complex offense, and in whatever stage of execution and mode of participation, is pending in court. ###