Coast Guard chief to appeal Sandigan's 90-day suspension order

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InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) chief Vice Admiral Edmund Tan on Thursday said he would appeal the decision of the Sandiganbayan to suspend him for 90 days.

The anti-graft court issued the order against Tan after he was accused by businessman Reynaldo Chua Jr. in 2007 of holding the latter's shipment of iron despite a valid permit from the Region 7 office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. 

“I am filing a motion for reconsideration for this suspension issued by the Sandiganbayan and hope it will be granted,” Tan said.

Tan said that while he respected the Sandiganbayan's decision, he called the preventive suspension a classic example of justice delayed, justice denied." He said the administrative aspect of the case had already been dismissed by the Office of the Ombudsman in July 2011.

According to the PCG chief, the complainant had already issued an affidavit of desistance in May 2011 after he realized that Tan was duty-bound to hold the departure of a barge in September 207 because it had no anchors.  

"The complainant himself even testified at the Sandiganbayan hearing last February 20, 2012 to attest to that. But I just can't understand why a decision on the criminal aspect of my case has to take too long to resolve at the Sandiganbayan when the Ombudsman has already dismissed the admin aspect of the same complaint. And now they are suspending me when this should have been decided already in my favor,” Tan said. 

Tan was the chief of the PCG's Visayas Command when Chua filed a complaint against him in 2007 before the Sandiganbayan. 

Chua alleged in 2007 that Tan had impounded the cargo vessel LCT Kapitan carrying the iron shipment and even charged the complainant with P50,000 as penalty for the ship's prolonged stay. 

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