Isabela mayor convicted of usurpation

MANILA, Philippines — Reelected Mayor Nestor Uy of Gamu, Isabela was sentenced to up to six months in prison for preventing the hiring of four municipal employees to be assigned in the office of the vice mayor in 2013. 

In 53-page decision promulgated on May 17, the Sandiganbayan’s Third Division found Uy guilty of usurpation of official functions under Article 177 of the Revised Penal Code. 

With his decision to surrender and post bail, the court reduced Uy’s prison term to a minimum of two months to a maximum of six months.

Filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2016, the case stemmed from Uy’s refusal to approve the appointment papers of four people to be hired as legislative staff members of the Sangguniang Bayan headed by Fernando Cumigad, the vice mayor at the time.

The ombudsman said Uy “unlawfully and feloniously” withheld and disapproved the appointment papers of Dante Martinez as legislative aide, Jasmine Rose Martinez as clerk as well as Silverio Balagan and Michael Balagan as drivers.

The Sandiganbayan noted that under Section 445 of the Local Government Code, the authority to appoint the legislative staff of the  Sangguniang Bayan belongs to the vice mayor, who also serves as the council’s presiding officer.

The anti-graft court found no merit on Uy’s defense that he disapproved the appointments because the municipal government have public lawyers who could serve as legal consultants of the town council.

The court pointed out that the appointees would not handle legal matters.

“This obvious desperate attempt of the accused to find justification for his disapproval of the appointments made by Cumigad is pathetic,” the court said.

Uy’s admission that he disapproved Cumigad’s appointments, regardless of the reasons, was enough to convict him of the charged crime, it added.