NINE years after being charged with multiple criminal offenses in relation to the 2004 Fertilizer Fund scam, former Hingyon, Ifugao municipal treasurer Henry Gano and his three co-accused can finally heave a sigh of relief.
In a 57-page decision promulgated November 18, 2024, the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division acquitted them on two counts of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019) and one count of the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184).
Other than Gano, also cleared were private defendants Dolly Villaflor and Lucia Gapitan, proprietor and representative, respectively, of Bry Cin Enterprises, and Suzette Recto, owner of Jozeth Trading.
They were accused of conspiracy to defraud the government about the procurement of 2,166 bottles of Keppelson Super Fast Foliar Plant Food Fertilizer worth P3.09 million on May 14, 2004 without public bidding.
Two other defendants, former municipal mayor Alex Kindipan and municipal accountant Maria Nilda Deloy, passed away before the completion of the trial, resulting in the dismissal of the cases against them.
Prosecutors said the municipality was defrauded by as much as P2.89 million since it paid P1,500 per bottle of the foliar fertilizer even if there were comparable foliar fertilizers being sold at only P165 per bottle for a price difference of P1,335 for each bottle purchased.
However, the anti-graft court said it found no evidence that Gano was involved in any conspiracy as he was only appointed by the late mayor to process the payments when the latter became busy with his gubernatorial bid in 2004, a midterm election year.
While Gano who signed the purchase request, canvass forms, disbursement vouchers, and checks, the Sandiganbayan noted that he had no participation in the planning, preparation, and perpetration of a conspiracy to defraud.
“The Court finds that accused Gano was merely following the orders of accused Kindipan. There was no community of design since accused Gano was merely fulfilling orders,” the court noted.
Likewise, it held that the involvement of the private defendants in the transaction was not proven by sufficient evidence.
Villaflor and Diola denied having entered into supply contracts with the municipal government of Hingyon and disowned the sales invoice and official receipts presented as evidence by the prosecution.
While Villaflor admitted that she was the proprietor of Bry Cin Enterprises, there was insufficient evidence to prove that the firm had signed a contract with the local government and received the check payment.
The sales invoice, delivery receipt, and official receipt were not convincingly connected to Bry Cin Enterprises and the signatures on the documents were not shown to be that of Villaflor.
Recto, on the other hand, also disavowed any connection to the documents supposedly bearing her signatures. The court pointed out that there was an absence of evidence showing Recto’s connection to Bry Cin.
