MANILA -- The legal counsels of contractor Sarah Discaya and her eight co-accused have filed an urgent motion seeking to remain under the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) following their arrest over an alleged ghost flood control project in Davao Occidental.
Discaya and the eight others were arrested on graft and malversation of public funds charges and were detained at the Lapu-Lapu City Jail in Cebu on Saturday.
According to NBI spokesperson Atty. Palmer Mallari, the defense filed a motion requesting that the accused be returned to NBI custody instead of remaining at the city jail.
“The last update is that the counsel of Sarah Discaya and her other co-accused filed an urgent motion to remain in the custody of the NBI. So the court issued an order requiring the Ombudsman in the Visayas and the NBI to comment within 10 days,” Mallari said.
Aside from seeking NBI custody, the defense also requested that Discaya be allowed to attend court hearings via video conferencing.
“Nagre-request siya ng attendance in the hearings via video conferencing,” Mallari added, noting that he was not aware of Discaya’s specific reasons for making the request.
Mallari explained that Supreme Court guidelines require corruption-related cases arising from infrastructure projects to be assigned to the nearest anti-graft court within the nearest judicial region.
This is why Discaya and her co-accused were detained in Lapu-Lapu City despite the alleged crime having occurred in Davao Occidental.
“Ang pinaka-logic dyan is dahil nga graft case ito, hangga’t maari, ayaw ng korte na maimpluwensiyahan ng kung anumang desisyon o kaya ang proceedings, kung halimbawa ang gaganapin ito sa lugar kung kung saan naganap ‘yung krimen,” he said.
“It just happened that the nearest judicial region is in Lapu-Lapu, Cebu. Kaya siya tinransfer,” Mallari said.
The court has yet to rule on the motion, pending the required comments from concerned offices.