THE Sandiganbayan has affirmed the conviction of five road engineers for falsification of public documents, upholding the findings of government auditors that the accomplishment reports on the public works projects in Maguindanao in 2008 and 2009 were faked.
In a resolution dated May 10, 2023, the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division junked the Joint Motion for Reconsideration filed by project engineers Yahiya A. Kandong, Omar B. Camsa, Anthony S. Kasan, Akmad S. Salim, and Jaypee P. Piang asking it to set aside the January 13, 2023 decision that sentenced them to two to six years imprisonment and P5,000 fine for each count of falsification.
The five were named co-accused of former Maguindanao governor Sajid Islam Ampatuan, who was convicted of eight counts of graft and eight counts of falsification and meted 64 to 112 years imprisonment aside from being required to pay P22.37 million in civil indemnity to the provincial government.
In the alternative, the movants had likewise asked the court to consider as mitigating circumstance the age of accused Salim, who is already 65 years old.
The project engineers argued that the audit team did not measure the entire span and length of the projects they supervised hence they should have been acquitted on reasonable doubt.
The Sandiganbayan, however, gave greater weight to the report submitted by auditors Evelyn Monter, Hernani Maravilla, and Elsielyn Masangcay, who found that the road rehabilitation projects were shorter than what was stated in the accomplishment reports.
It noted that the argument raised was “a mere rehash” of issues previously included in the accused-movants’ joint memorandum which was already considered and passed upon by the Court in deciding their cases.
“Suffice it to say that the COA auditors positively testified that the projects were measured against their respective programs of work and, as a result thereof, substantial deficiencies/ irregularities were determined,” the Sandiganbayan said.
