INCUMBENT Northern Kabuntalan, Maguindanao Mayor Datu Umbra Dilangalen has been convicted of graft and sentenced to six years imprisonment by the Sandiganbayan for approving the release of full payment of P5 million for a public works project in 2011 even before its completion.
In the 24-page decision promulgated last September 9, the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division pronounced Dilangalen guilty of one count of violation of Section 3(e) of RA 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Correct Practices Act together with municipal accountant Rahima Ali and treasurer Kabiba Mael.
On top of the jail term, the court also imposed perpetual disqualification from holding public office against the three.
The decision was penned by Associate Justice Mary Ann E. Corpus-Mañalac, with Associate Justices Rafael R. Lagos and Maria Theresa V. Mendoza-Arcega concurring.
Based on the information filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2018, the three defendants were accused of giving unwarranted benefit or preference to private contractor FFJJ Construction by processing and approving the full contract payment for the Small Water Impounding Project in Barangay Damatog before its completion.
The Sandiganbayan sustained the prosecution’s stand that the defendants cannot feign ignorance of the prohibition against the lump sum payment for a government project since the Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act is clear that advance payment should not exceed 15 percent of the contract price and that under no condition is full payment allowable.
Prosecutors showed that just two days after the execution of the contract, the “first and final payment” was released to FFJJ Construction signed by all three.
Documents showed the project was only completed on March 12, 2012.
