Sandigan affirms graft conviction of ex-mayor

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has upheld its earlier ruling convicting the former city officials of Tayabas in Quezon province of graft.

Former Tayabas mayor Faustino Silang and four city councilors were convicted for illegally hiring a private lawyer in 2013.

In an eight-page resolution promulgated on Sept. 29, the anti-graft court said the respondents failed to raise meritorious arguments that would warrant the reversal of the ruling issued in February this year.

Silang and his co-respondents were found guilty of two counts of violation of Republic Act (RA) 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The court also denied the appeals filed by former city councilors Rex Abadilla, Abelardo Abrigo, Macario Reyes and Venerando Rea.

Earlier, the respondents, along with former city councilor Marfeo Jacela were sentenced from six to 10 years in prison for each count of the offense or a total of 12 to 20 years for both counts.

They were also disqualified from holding public office.

Jacela did not appeal the ruling. The rest argued that the prosecution failed to establish the existence of conspiracy as supposedly shown in the acquittal of their co-respondent, former Tayabas vice mayor Luzviminda Cuadra.

Filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2016, the cases stemmed from the hiring of Jose Augusto Salvacion as private counsel and representative of the city government in the trial of cases pending in court.

The anti-graft court agreed with the ombudsman’s findings that the passage of a city resolution authorizing the hiring of Salvacion was illegal.

The court cited the Local Government Code, which provides that only the duly appointed legal officer of a local government unit should handle all legal matters of the LGU.

It also cited a warning issued by the Commission on Audit against the hiring of Salvacion.

Cleared

Meanwhile, a municipal vice mayor in Zamboanga del Sur has been cleared of graft in connection with the allegedly anomalous procurement amounting to P4.43 million during his term as mayor.

The Sandiganbayan said the ombudsman failed to prove that Tabina town Vice Mayor Greg Dayondon acted in bad faith or conspired with his co-accused.

Dayondon was acquitted of five counts of violation of RA 3019 along with his partner Fruby Paran, sister Juvy and brother in-law Robert Bernal.

Filed in 2016, the case stemmed from the municipal government’s procurement of goods from  companies owned by Fruby, Juvy and Bernal.

The procurement was done without public bidding, the ombudsman said.

The Sandiganbayan said the prosecuction did not present any witness or proof  of Dayondon’s involvement in determining the method of  procurement and in selecting the suppliers.

It said the method of procurement used was decided by the bids and awards committee in accordance with its annual procurement plan.

Th anti-graft court said the select suppliers offered the lowest prices and were not given unwarranted benefits or advantage.

The procurement did not cause undue injury to the local government, the court said.