Ex-TRC exec gets 28 years over pork scam

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has sentenced a former official of the abolished state firm Technology Resource Center (TRC) to 28 years in prison for  misusing the pork barrel funds of a former lawmaker of Compostela Valley from 2007 to 2013.

In a 57-page decision promulgated on Aug. 4, the anti-graft court’s Second Division found Maria Rosalinda Lacsamana guilty of violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act (RA) 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Lacsamana was the legislative liaison officer and group manager of the TRC, formerly known as the Technology and Livelihood Resource Center (TLRC), at the time.

Aside from Lacsamana, convicted of the same offense were four officials of non-government organization Philippine Environmental and Ecological Development Association Inc. (PEEDAI), identified as chief executive officer Butch Canoy, chief operating officer Vincent Jaudian, vice president Alfredo Soriano and treasurer Mercy Cabig.

The four PEEDAI officials were sentenced to six to 10 years in prison and were disqualified from holding public office.

They were also ordered to jointly or individually pay the government P10 million, or equivalent to the amount of public funds found to have been misused.

In the same ruling, the Second Division sentenced Lacsamana to another 12 to 18 years in prison for malversation as provided under the Revised Penal Code.

The anti-graft court ordered Lacsamana to pay the government P10 million in civil liability.

The Second Division acquitted TRC deputy director general Dennis Cunanan and corporate support services group manager Francisco Figura of graft and malversation due to the failure of the prosecution to prove their guilt.

The cases against the primary accused, TRC director general Antonio Ortiz, were ordered archived as he remains at large.

Filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2019, the cases stemmed from the alleged misuse of P10 million in the pork barrel of the late Compostela Valley congressman Prospero Amatong.

The ombudsman said the TRC released to the PEEDAI P9.8 million for the supposed implementation of Amatong’s livelihood projects in his district.

The TRC retained the remaining P200,000 as service fee and for the supposed cost of livelihood materials.

The ombudsman said the projects were awarded to the PEEDAI without public bidding as required under RA 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

State prosecutors questioned the manner by which the funds were released, noting it violated a policy of the Commission on Audit, which states that funds intended for a periodic project must be released at least in three tranches.

The ombudsman said the projects did not exist.