A FORMER legislator from Mindanao, an executive of a government-owned or controlled corporation (GOCC), and an officer of a non-government organization (NGO) are facing 96 to 151 years imprisonment, fines amounting to P69.7 million, and civil indemnity totaling P32.8 million for defrauding the government through the misuse of Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
The Special Second Division of the Sandiganbayan voted 3-2 to convict former Bukidnon Rep. Candido Pancrudo, Technology Resource Center (TRC) group manager Maria Rosalinda Lacsamana, and private defendant Johanne Edward Labay, officer of the Farmerbusiness Development Corp. (FDC), an NGO, of eight counts of graft and four counts of malversation of public funds.
Associate Justice and Second Division chairperson Oscar C. Herrera Jr. penned the 77-page majority decision with the concurrence of Associate Justices Rafael R. Lagos and Arthur O. Malabaguio. The ruling was promulgated on April 14, 2023.
Associate Justice Michael Frederick L. Musngi submitted a dissenting opinion that the prosecution’s evidence was insufficient to hold Pancrudo guilty of criminal charges, noting that the lawmaker’s mere act of endorsing which NGO to implement his PDAF-funded projects did not amount to manifest partiality, evident bad faith, or gross inexcusable negligence.
Associate Justice Lorifel Lacap Pahimna concurred with Musngi’s dissent.
On the other hand, majority of the members of the special division held that the involvement of the three defendants in funneling the PDAF sums of P16 million, P8 million, P4.8 million, and P4 million into the FDC using the TRC as a conduit was proven beyond reasonable doubt.
They noted that the paper trail of the fund transfer was evidenced by checks drawn by the TRC and receipts issued in return by the NGO.
“FDC, through its officers, thus clearly acquired custody of and control over the subject funds. Its subsequent failure to properly account for the amounts, providing only spurious documents to support their alleged utilization, ineluctably proves the aggregate sum of P32.8 million was misappropriated,” the anti-graft court declared.
The cases stemmed from a special report released by the Commission on Audit on the multi-billion pesos PDAF scam which included releases of Pancrudo’s pork barrel allocations in 2007 and 2008.
State auditors found that misplaced official receipts of Felta Multi-Media Inc., a legitimate supplier of instructional materials, science equipment, and educational mobile devices was used to make it appear that there were actual procurements of training kits paid for by Pancrudo’s PDAF.
COA assistant commissioner Susan Garcia, former director of the Special Audit Office, testified that her team led the verification of all transactions pertaining to use of the PDAF from 2007 to 2009 including the supposed purchases from Felta that turned out to be bogus.
Felta president Matia Aileen Abiva-Sazon corroborated Garcia’s testimony that her firm did not make any transactions with FDC, and that the ORs presented in the liquidation were fraudulently used, having been previously declared missing.
“Evidence indubitably shows that the grossly negligent acts of Pancrudo and Lacsamana cohere with the deliberate. Fraudulent acts of Labay to establish an implied conspiracy,” the Sandiganbayan said.
However, it found insufficient evidence to convict former TRC group manager Francisco Figura, budget officer Consuelo Lilian Espiritu, and chief accountant Marivic Jover of any criminal charge.
On the other hand, former TRC deputy director general Dennis Cunanan was acquitted based on reasonable doubt.
