FORMER Technology and Livelihood Resource Center (TLRC) deputy director general Dennis Cunanan, group manager Ma. Rosalinda Lacsamana, and chief accountant Marivic Jover were convicted of graft and malversation charges by the Sandiganbayan Sixth Division yesterday in connection with the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.
The Sixth Division sentenced all three to six to eight years for the graft case and 12 to 18 years for the malversation of public funds with perpetual disqualification from holding public office.
The court likewise imposed fines totaling P9.8 million and ordered them to pay the Bureau of Treasury another P9.8 million as civil liability.
A fourth accused, group manager Francisco Figura, was acquitted due to a lack of evidence to establish his participation.
Associate Justice Kevin Narce B. Vivero penned the 107-page decision, with Associate Justices Sarah Jane T. Fernandez and Zalby V. Trespeses concurring.
Based on the information filed in 2020, the TLRC officials were accused of conspiracy to defraud the government through the unlawful transfer of P9.8 million from the 2007 PDAF allocation of former Laguna Rep. Danton Bueser.
Bueser was not among the persons charged in court based on a 2018 resolution of the Office of the Ombudsman.
Government investigators said the Department of Budget ad Management (DBM) released P10 million from Bueser’s PDAF allocation of which the TLRC deducted P100,000 as a service fee and another P100,000 as a one-percent cost of materials.
The TLRC then transferred the balance to the Aaron Foundation Philippines Inc. (AFPI) despite what the court said were red flags of irregularities,s including the lack of documents for accreditation by the NGO and the fact that it was based in Tondo, Manila which made it ineligible to undertake government projects in Laguna.
There was also no notarized memorandum of agreement between the NGO and the TLRC and yet the latter released government money to the private foundation.
Sixteen officials from seven different local government units in the province of Laguna also executed certifications attesting that no training or livelihood projects were implemented in their city or municipalities.
“Since this was a ‘ghost project,’ it is not surprising that no fund utilization or liquidation report was submitted,” the court noted.
It held that the fraud should not have been pulled off if the TLRC officials had performed their duties rather than “giving scant consideration to statutory checks” in place under the 2007 General Appropriations Act and the Commission on Audit Circular No. 96-003.
“In fine, the totality of the facts and circumstances proved beyond cavil that accused Cunanan, Jover, and Lacsamana, through manifest partiality and gross inexcusable negligence, acted with unity of purpose, in giving unwarranted benefits to AFPI and causing undue injury to the government,” the Sandiganbayan said.
