Candaba mayor suspended over Malampaya raps

The Sandiganbayan has ordered the suspension of mayor Rene Maglanque of Candaba town in Pampanga for 90 days, amid the trial for 194 cases related to the P900-million Malampaya fund scam.

- By ELIZABETH MARCELO

Participants display food cooked in bamboo internodes or tubong during the Tinungbo Festival in Pugo, La Union yesterday. The food festival celebrates community heritage and highlights the traditional way of cooking rice, fresh water fish and other local delicacies.

(ANDY ZAPATA)

The court said the suspension is to prevent Maglanque from using his government position “to hamper prosecution or to commit further malfeasance in office.”

Although the cases were filed in 2017 yet, the court’s Special Third Division said Section 13 of Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, states that preventive suspension applies to any office an accused is currently holding and not necessarily to the particular office or position he was holding at the time he was charged.

The court noted that Maglanque won as mayor in the May 2025 polls.