THE Sandiganbayan has ordered the Cainta Regional Trial Court (RTC) to proceed with the graft trial of former Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) director general Jeremiah Belgica and four co-accused.
In a 31-page resolution dated Oct. 9, 2025, the Sandigan Sixth Division denied motions for reconsideration filed by Belgica and his co-defendants, upholding its Aug. 18, 2025 decision.
The anti-graft court rejected the defense’s argument that two pending Supreme Court cases (involving NewsNet vs. NTC and NOW Telecom vs. NTC) should halt the proceedings. The Sandiganbayan ruled that these cases—which question ARTA’s overall authority to issue Orders of Automatic Approval (OAAs)—are not intimately related to the graft charges.
The criminal case focuses specifically on the regularity of a March 1, 2021 OAA that allegedly favored NOW Telecom by granting it 3G mobile frequencies already assigned to Dito Telecommunity.
“As this court discussed at length in the assailed decision, the issues in the criminal case and those in the Newsnet and Now Tel cases are not intimately related. Thus, there is no ground for suspending the proceedings on the basis of prejudicial question,” the court ruled.
It explained that the Supreme Court cases centered on whether ARTA has the authority to issue Orders of Automatic Approval (OAAs) that override NTC actions.
The graft case, on the other hand, focuses on the regularity of a specific OAA issued on March 1, 2021, which affected frequencies already assigned to Dito Telecommunity.
Associate Justice Sarah Jane Fernandez penned the ruling, with Associate Justices Kevin Narce B. Vivero and Lord A. Villanueva concurring.
Belgica’s co-defendants are ARTA deputy director general Eduardo Bringas, division chief Sheryl Pura-Sumagui, and directors Jedrek Ng and Melamy Salvadora-Asperin.
They were accused of favoring NOW Telecom when ARTA issued the March 1, 2021 OAA granting the company 3G mobile frequencies, even though the NTC had previously assigned the same frequencies to Dito Telecommunity Inc.
State prosecutors also said NOW Tel was ineligible to receive the frequencies because of unpaid supervision and regulation fees and spectrum user fees (SUF).
In their motions, the accused argued that the criminal case and the Supreme Court petitions involved identical issues and that “the regularity of the issuance of an OAA is intrinsically tied to the proper exercise of ARTA’s authority.”
The Sandiganbayan rejected this, saying the arguments had already been considered and found without merit.
“In fine, the respondents failed to convince this Court that the reversal of the assailed decision is warranted,” it said.
The court ordered Branch 141 of the Cainta RTC “to immediately continue the proceedings” in the graft case against the former ARTA officials.
