THE Sandiganbayan has granted the demurrer to evidence filed by defendant Romeo Cucueco, an officer of the Kabalikat sa Kalusugan and Kaunlaran Foundation Inc. (KKKFI), a non-government organization that received P10 million from the pork barrel allocation of former Manila Rep. Joey Hizon.
The anti-graft court’s Second Division, in its 26-page resolution dated September 2, 2025, held that the evidence presented failed to support the allegations against the accused.
“The Court carefully reviewed the prosecution’s evidence and clearly found that, at this point in the case, the evidence is insufficient to prove beyond reasonable doubt that R. Cucueco committed the crimes charged against him or that he was specifically involved in the commission thereof,” it noted.
Based on the criminal charges filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2022, Hizon’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) allocations were released to the Technology and Livelihood Resource Center (TLRC) in 2007.
From TLRC, the PDAF cash was transferred to KKKFI even if prosecutors said NGOs were not authorized by law to act as implementing partners.
They said the P10 million was never liquidated and the supposed livelihood projects never materialized.
Cucueco’s co-accused, TLRC deputy director general Dennis Cunanan and deputy group director Maria Rosalinda Lacsamana, were already convicted of graft and malversation of public funds in the court’s decision promulgated on August 8, 2024.
They were sentenced to six to eight years imprisonment in the graft charge and 12 to 18 years for the malversation case, with perpetual disqualification from holding any other government post.
The court likewise ordered them to pay indemnity to the government in the sum of P9.6 million and a fine in the same amount.
But in Cucueco’s case, the Sandiganbayan held that there was not enough evidence to prove that he was directly involved in any of the transactions.
“The prosecution failed to prove that any of the acts attributed to R. Cucueco were in furtherance of a conspiracy with the co-accused public officers to violate the Anti-Graft Law,” the court added.
