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Elizabeth Marcelo - The Philippine Star
January 21, 2026 | 12:00am
In a resolution promulgated on Jan. 9, the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division denied the motions filed by former NPFI officials, including its former chairperson Patricia Yvette Ocampo-Desiongco.
STAR / File
MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has ruled to proceed with the trial of former Nayong Pilipino Foundation Inc. (NPFI) officials for graft and indirect bribery over an alleged junket trip in 2017 to Jeju Island shouldered by a Hong Kong-based resort and casino operator.
In a resolution promulgated on Jan. 9, the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division denied the motions filed by former NPFI officials, including its former chairperson Patricia Yvette Ocampo-Desiongco.
The respondents sought the deferment of their arraignment and dismissal of the charges on the ground of inordinate delay.
The Fifth Division said Ocampo-Desiongco and the other NPFI officials failed to support their claim that the ombudsman violated their constitutional right to speedy resolution of cases.
They said the Office of the Ombudsman filed the charges before the Sandiganbayan on Oct. 3, 2025 or more than six years from the termination of its probe in 2019.
The Fifth Division noted that ombudsman prosecutors filed the cases before the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) in 2022. But the charges were dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
The cases were refiled before the Malolos RTC, but these were also junked for lack of jurisdiction.
On Oct. 3, 2025, the cases were refiled before the Sandiganbayan.
The Fifth Division denied the motions to quash filed by Ocampo-Desiongco as well as former NPFI board members Rex Anthony Villegas, Caroline Lansang, Alicia Manuel, Elizabeth Mercado and Efraim Perez. The court set the arraignment on Jan. 21.
The cases stemmed from the alleged acceptance by former NPFI officials of free transportation on a private jet to Jeju Island to attend the opening of the Shinwa Park in South Korea in 2017.
The free transportation and accommodations were allegedly extended by Landing International Development Limited to the NPFI officials amid negotiations for a lease contract between the two entities for the supposed development of the Nayong Pilipino property in Parañaque into an entertainment complex.
