Ombud: Put Bogo VM Martinez under suspension

THE Office of the Ombudsman is seeking to put Bogo City Vice Mayor Maria Cielo Martinez under preventive suspension pending the graft and malversation case filed against her.

Prosecutors Jennifer Agustin-Se and Jennifer Carreon filed the motion to place Martinez under preventive suspension last Wednesday, Nov. 9, before the Fifth Division of the Sandiganbayan.

In moving for her suspension, the prosecutors invoked RA 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, which requires the court to suspend a defendant public official charged with graft.

Martinez’s case stemmed from the graft and malversation charges filed against her along with her mother, former Cebu Representative Clavel Martinez; her brother, former Bogo City Mayor Celestino “Tining” Martinez III, and four others back in 2012 for the alleged misuse of P10 million in pork barrel funds, formerly known as the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

Also named as respondents were Municipal Treasurer Rhett Minguez, Municipal Accountant Cresencio Verdida, Bookkeeper Rhodariza Kilantang and GSP Cebu Council Cashier Julieta Quino.

The charges resulted from allegations that Martinez as well as the others had conspired to misuse the P10 million in public funds, originally allotted for the Girl Scout of the Philippines in Cebu City, so that it would go the personal account of Clavel Martinez.

The money was later on found to have been deposited in Clavel’s personal account with the Bank of the Philippine Islands.
Clavel was the president of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines in Cebu City from 1995 to 2003 while the younger Martinez was its former treasurer.

In her defense, Clavel said that the bank account where the P10 million was deposited to was a trust fund maintained by GSP Cebu.