FORMER Babatngon, Leyte mayor Charita Chan issued a business permit for a cockpit operator in 2009 based on a mistaken belief that she had the authority to do so even without the conformity of the Sangguniang Bayan.
That lone mistake has earned her a six-year vacation behind bars with perpetual disqualification from holding any other position in government and loss of all retirement benefits.
The Sandiganbayan Third Division convicted Chan of one count of violation of Section 3 (e) of RA 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act after she was pronounced guilty of acting with manifest partiality in favor of applicant Nicomedes Alde, whose previous gaming permit was already revoked by the municipal council just a year earlier.
The 31-page decision was penned by Associate Justice Ronald B. Moreno, with Presiding Justice Amparo M. Cabotaje-Tang and Associate Justice Bernelito R. Fernandez concurring.
Trial records showed Chan issued the Mayor’s Business Permit in favor of Alde on August 28, 2009, effectively disregarding Sangguniang Bayan Resolution No. 2253-07 that had stripped her of such power on September 3, 2008.
The Sandiganbayan affirmed the prosecution’s stand that both Presidential Decree No. 1082 that created the Gamefowl Commission and Ordinance No. 191 of the municipal government required the concurrent authority of the Sangguniang Bayan in allowing a cockfighting operation.
