Antique town mayor gets 8 years for rice mill deal

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has sentenced the mayor and vice mayor of Patnongon town in Antique to eight years in prison in connection with the allegedly anomalous awarding of a rice mill equipment worth P9.9 million to a cooperative.

In a 74-page decision promulgated on April 14, the court’s Third Division found Mayor Johnny Bacongallo and Vice Mayor Thomas Bacaoco as well as six other former and incumbent town officials guilty of violating Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The six other respondents were identified as former town mayor Henry Mondejar, incumbent Councilors Al Brian Crespo and Felix Gregorio Barrientos, and former councilors Rene Philip Cayetano, Teopisto Estaris Jr. and Erika Orcasitas.

Also convicted of the same offense was private respondent Efren Esclavilla, chairman of the Greater Antique Development Cooperative or GRAND Coop.

Aside from prison terms, the anti-graft court disqualified the respondents from holding public office.

Meanwhile, the primary defendants in the case – former Antique lone district Rep. Exequiel Javier and councilor Gemma Cepeda – were acquitted for failure of the prosecution to prove their guilt.

Filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2017, the case stemmed from the transfer of ownership of a 40-ton equipment to the GRAND Coop between 2007 and 2008.

The ombudsman said the equipment, funded by Javier’s Priority Development Assistance Fund  (PDAF), was originally intended for the use of the local government of Patnongon.

It said the respondents conspired in transferring the ownership of the equipment “without any financial consideration and justification in the selection of the grantee.”

Mondejar was mayor, while Bacongallo and Bacaoco were vice mayor and councilor, respectively, when the offense was committed, the ombudsman said.

The Third Division said the ombudsman was able to prove that the municipal government suffered undue injury from the transfer of the ownership of the rice mill to the cooperative.

It said the cooperative was found to be incapable of operating the mill, to the detriment of the farmers of Patnongon.

In acquitting Javier, the court said that while the rice mill was funded by his PDAF, the prosecution failed to establish that he had any participation in the approval of the transfer of ownership of the property.

The court said Cepeda was able to prove that she did not sign a resolution of the Sangguniang Bayan approving the deal with the cooperative.