MANILA - The Sandiganbayan has affirmed its jurisdiction over a case against a former Philippine Army officer accused of sexual harassment.

The anti-graft court's 6th division junked the motion to quash filed by former Philippine Army Col. Jessie Mario Dosado, who is facing 3 counts of sexual harassment for supposedly demanding sexual favors from two female officers in 2013.

Dosado is accused of allegedly ordering a female officer to watch him have sexual intercourse with a certain Miss Glacy and asked her to join them in an orgy.

The former army officer said the Sandiganbayan has no jurisdiction over his case because he is a full colonel with salary grade 26, and argued that the court has exclusive jurisdiction over government workers from salary grade 27 and above.

The court, however, sided with the argument of government prosecutors that Dosado's rank falls under the original Sandiganbayan law, Presidential Decree No. 1606, which mentioned “army and air force colonels.”

The Sandiganbayan said it has jurisdiction over Dosado's cases "regardless of his salary grade" and that the consolidated motion he filed “is devoid of merit and should be denied.”

The court also ruled that the offenses allegedly committed by Dosado are "intimately connected" with his official functions, as stated in the information filed by the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for the Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices.

“In other words, the official position held by the accused made it possible for him to have allegedly committed the crimes charged. Thus, it can be said that the crimes charged are intimately connected to his office,” the court said.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines has distanced itself from Dosado, who was dismissed in 2016 because of other cases such as usurpation of official functions and dishonesty.