Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said he posted a P30,000 bail bond before the Cadiz City Regional Trial Court on Thursday, August 15.
Executive Judge Gwendolyn Jimenea of the Cadiz RTC in an order dated August 15 said the cash bond guarantees Diaz provisional liberty pending trial of a criminal case filed against him.
The case for alleged violation of Republic Act 6713 (an act establishing a code of conduct and ethical standards for public officials and employees) is pending before the Municipal Trial Court in Cities in Himamaylan City.
Diaz maintains that he is innocent of the charges against him.
The case states that Diaz, being the Provincial Administrator of Negros Occidental, unlawfully engaged in the private practice of his profession as lawyer and represented JLL Agriculture and Development in an expropriation case during a hearing before the Regional Trial Court of Himamaylan City, despite his being an official of the provincial government in “conflict or tending to create conflict with his official functions”.
Diaz said it is the same allegation contained in an administrative case for which he was suspended by the Ombudsman for six months.
Diaz maintained that all his actions in the expropriation case were favorable to the municipality of Binalbagan.
Himamaylan MTCC Acting Presiding Judge Enrique Barcelona had issued a warrant of arrest and set his bail at P30,000. However, Diaz posted bail before it could be served.*