THE Sandiganbayan has affirmed its December 7, 2023 decision that pronounced former Lazi, Siquijor mayor Orville Fua and his four co-defendants guilty of graft over the fraudulent procurement of P4.99 million worth of fertilizers 20 years earlier.
The anti-graft court’s Third Division denied the defendants’ motion for reconsideration that assailed the 2023 ruling for supposed errors in evaluating the prosecution’s evidence against them while disregarding the ones that support reasonable doubt.
In its 38-page resolution penned by Presiding Justice Amparo M. Cabotaje-Tang, the court held that the accused failed to raise any novel issue that would warrant a modification or a reversal of its decision.
“Arguments raised by the accused-movants in their joint motion for reconsideration were already passed upon by the Court in its questioned Decision. In sum, the Court finds no new and/or substantial arguments raised by the accused-movants in their joint motion for reconsideration that would warrant a reconsideration of the Court’s Decision,” the Sandiganbayan said.
Joining Fua in the failed challenge to the decision were municipal Bids and Awards Committee members Sue Agnes Castillon, Natalio Jumawan Jr., and Rose Marie Tomogsoc, and private defendant Merlyn Lu.
With the denial of their appeal, the five defendants face six to ten years imprisonment with perpetual disqualification from holding public office.
In convicting all the accused, the court declared that they committed “blatant violations of the applicable procurement laws, rules and regulations reveal their common criminal design to rig the purported public bidding” to favor private supplier Mangopina Trading Company Inc.
The municipal government tapped Mangopina to deliver MRG Liquid Fertilizer and Del Gro Super Foliar Fertilizers under the Department of Agriculture’s Farm Inputs/Farm Implements Program (FIFIP) in May 2004.
During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence showing that the purchase request was issued on March 12, 2004 or almost a month ahead of the memorandum of agreement between the DA Regional Field Unit 7 (DA-RFU7) and the municipal government of Lazi.
