The legal counsels of government contractor Sarah Discaya and her eight co-accused filed an urgent motion requesting 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 others were detained at Lapu-Lapu City Jail in Cebu on Saturday after being charged with graft and malversation of public funds.
“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,” NBI spokesperson Atty. Palmer Mallari said.
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.
He explained that Supreme Court guidelines require corruption cases involving infrastructure projects to be assigned to the nearest anti-graft court, which is why the accused were detained in Lapu-Lapu City despite the alleged crime occurring 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. 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 required comments from the Ombudsman and the NBI.