FIVE years and two months after she was supposed to have passed away, fugitive Mary Ann Maslog was convicted by the Sandiganbayan of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019) for her involvement in the P24 million anomalous textbook procurement deal in 2008.
The Sandiganbayan Second Division sentenced Maslog to six to ten years imprisonment.
Her two co-accused, both former officials of the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (now Department of Education) have been sentenced to similar jail terms in 2020.
The anti-graft court found former DECS Region 8 chief accountant Emilia Aranas and former budget and finance officer Ernesto Guiang guilty of unlawfully approving the payment of P24 million to supplier Esteem Enterprises, represented by Maslog, for the delivery of textbooks and supplementary printed materials based on falsified documents.
Durin trial, it was established that there was no valid procurement contract since the supposed sub-allotment release orders (SAROs) for P10 million and P14 million did not come from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and were proven to be fabricated.
It turned out that the numbers appearing on the SAROs were already previously assigned to DECS-NCR for expenses related to the 1998 Centennial Parade.
On November 27, 2019, Maslog’s counsel informed the court that she had passed away on November 18, 2019. The court ordered the submission of a death certificate from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
But on September 25, 2024 the National Bureau of Investigation – Fraud and Financial Crimes Division (NBI-FFCD) arrested one Dr. Jesica Francisco in Quezon City on a complaint for fraud. The suspect turned out to be Maslog under a different name.
The NBI said that sometime in 2021, Francisco/Maslog scammed two investors to fork over P5 million and P3 million in cash which she said would be used to start a water supply system in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
To cover her con game, Maslog issued bank checks to her victims which later turned out as fakes.
Examination of the biometric printouts of Francisco’s right index finger led investigators to the records of wanted person Mary Ann Evanz Basa Tupa Smith, Mary Ann Evans Smith, Mary Ann Tupa Maslog-Smith, Mary Ann Evanz Basa Tupa, and Mary Ann Tupa Maslog.
It was the last name that raised red flags in connection with the 16-year-old corruption case at the Sandiganbayan.
The court said Maslog convinced her own child to report her as dead to mislead authorities and enable the accused to live under various assumed identities.