FROM the frying pan into the fire.
When defendant Janet Napoles filed her motion for reconsideration on Oct. 16, 2023, she was hoping that the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division will reverse its Oct. 2, 2023 decision that pronounced her guilty of nine counts of corruption of public officials for which she was sentenced to two years and four months imprisonment for each count, or a total of 21 years on top of a P27-million fine.
Instead, the anti-graft court threw out her appeal and increased her penalty by adding P79.04 million in civil liability representing public funds that were funneled into three bogus private foundations — Masaganang Ani Para sa Magsasaka Foundation Inc. (MAMFI), the Philippine Social Development Foundation Incorporated (PSDFI), and Social Development Program for Farmers Foundation, Inc. (SDPFFI).
In a 20-page resolution issued on July 8, 2024, a special division of five justices voted 3-2 to affirm the conviction of Napoles and former party-list Rep. Edgar Valdez of Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives (APEC) who was found guilty on nine counts of direct bribery in connection with the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.
Presiding Justice Amparo M. Cabotaje-Tang and Associate Justices Maryann E. Corpus-Mañalac concurred with the majority ruling penned by Associate Justice Rafael R. Lagos that the lesser crimes of direct bribery and corruption of public officials were sufficiently alleged in the original information for plunder when it was filed in 2015.
Napoles and Valdez challenged the application of the “variance rule” against them, arguing that when the court found insufficient evidence to convict them of plunder, they should have been acquitted of all crimes in connection with the original charge.
Valdez said the Sandiganbayan violated his constitutional right to be informed of the case leveled against him, in convicting him of nine counts of direct bribery even as he was acquitted of the original plunder indictment.
Napoles supported Valdez’ stand that there was no finding of probable cause for direct bribery or corruption of public official, hence their conviction was baseless.
She added that if there were crimes alleged other than plunder, these should have been filed and tried separately.
Associate Justice Ma. Theresa V. Mendoza-Arcega submitted an eight-page dissenting opinion which was adopted by Associate Justice Lorifel L. Pahimna, to grant the two defendants’ motions for reconsideration which would acquit them of all charges.
Arcena pointed out that Valdez and Napoles were charged and tried on the charge of plunder and not on bribery or corruption of public officials.
She said the right of the accused to be informed of the nature and cause of the allegation against them should take precedence of the application of the variance doctrine.
The majority, however, supported the view that the variance rule is applicable, allowing the conviction of the accused for a crime proved, if it is necessarily included in the crime charged.
The Lagos ponencia pointed out that factual details constituting all the elements of the lesser crimes were specifically alleged in the information for plunder.
“Here accused Valdez and Napoles were adequately apprised that the plunder information included the lesser offenses of bribery and corruption of public officers. They were not caught by surprise. They should have been able to intelligently prepare and defend to the same,” the court added.
In imposing civil liability against Napoles, the Sandiganbayan said its inclusion was inadvertently excluded even if the facts of the case showed it is warranted.
“The penalty to pay a fine is not equivalent to finding an accused civilly liable for restitution. It is imperative that the courts prescribe the proper penalties when convicting the accused and determine the civil liability to the imposed,” the court said.
It explained that civil liability “constitutes the actual damages suffered by the government resulting from the unlawful scheme” involving Valdez’s PDAF allocations.
Based on the breakdown of sums that were transferred to Napoles’ NGOs the court noted that P28.6 million was funneled into PSDFI and SDPFFI in 2007; P21.34 million went to SDPFFI in 2008; and P29.1 million to MAMFI and SDPFFI in 2009.
“This total amount of P79,040,000 comprised the public funds that went to the coffers of the three NGOs under the control of accused Napoles, and thus constituted the actual damage suffered by the Government,” the Sandiganbayan said.
