CAGAYAN de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno over the weekend said the difficult period is over after he was finally arraigned for his 13 graft cases on Friday, December 7.
Moreno said he will now await trial and that he is confident that he will be vindicated.
"For me, the arraignment ang pinaka perwisyo kay every kaso, naa pud arraignment each (is the most bothersome because every case there’s an arraignmen) so I would have to go to Manila every week perhaps. But because we are able to consolidate all the cases, isa lang ka arraignment for all of the cases," he said.
"Nalipay gani ko nga na arraign nako (I am happy because the arraignment is over), so now the trial will begin, ako kamapante man ko (I am complacent), confident that we will be vindicated," he added.
Moreno is facing a total of 27 graft cases before the Sandiganbayan. He was arraigned for the 7 cases last month while the arraignment for the 13 graft cases was set last week. The others were dismissed.
The cases are in relation to Moreno's lease deals of the heavy equipment during his time as governor of Misamis Oriental. The Office of the Ombudsman slapped him with several dismissal order for making the deal without public bidding.
But Moreno said the cases are politically motivated, done by his political opponent, the Emanos.
"Ang purpose ra man gyud nilang Bambi ani nga lisud-lisoron ako, pangitaag bikil, mamantsahan, mao dayon ingon dayon karon ni Pompee nga daghan akong mga kaso, dili ko kabalaka ana (The purpose of Bambi and others is to make me suffer, look for my mistakes, so Pompee would say there are a lot of cases against me) we will overcome all of this, we will prevail," he added.