FLERIDA Alberto, president of Kabuhayan at Kalusugang Alay sa Masa Foundation Inc. (KKMFI), has been acquitted by the Sandiganbayan on charges of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019) and malversation of public funds in connection with the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.
In a 102-page Decision issued on October 31, 2024, the anti-graft court’s Third Division held that the prosecution’s evidence failed to prove the allegations beyond reasonable doubt.
“If there exists even an iota of doubt, courts are under the legal injunction to resolve the doubt in favor of the accused. A judgment of conviction must pass the test of moral certainty. The prosecution’s evidence has failed this crucible; hence, the presumption of innocence prevails,” the court declared.
Alberto, a former mayor of Virac, Catanduanes, was accused of conspiring with officials of the National Agribusiness Corp (Nabcor) in the irregular transfer in 2007 of P9.7 million public funds to KKAMFI allegedly under the guise of funding the livelihood project of late San Jose del Monte City Rep. Eduardo Roquero.
The money came from Roquero’s PDAF allocations which were released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to Nabcor, which in turn downloaded P9.7 million to KKAMFI.
Also named co-defendants were former Nabcor president Alan Javellana, Alberto’s sister and KKAMFI project coordinator Marilou Antonio, and CC Barredo Publishing House owner Carmelita C. Barredo, supposed supplier of the livelihood kits.
Roquero was not included anymore after he passed away in 2009, 13 years before these cases were filed in court.
Prosecutors said the supposed distribution of livelihood kits by the NGO was a ghost project because it never happened as attested by various barangay officials in the city.
They added that KKAMFI existed only on paper since its given addresses at 12-C Aguilar St. Barangay Bungad, Quezon City and No, 8 Kaimito Street, Las Villas ValleVerde 2, Pasig City turned out to be bogus.
In the Quezon City address, the team of auditors led by State Auditor Joan Agnes Alfafaras found only apartments 12-A and 12-B and were told that unit 12-C did not exist.
Security guards in the Pasig City address, on the other hand, informed the audit team that the given address is a residence occupied by another family and no NGO by the name of KKAMFI maintains an office in the subdivision.
In acquitting Alberto, the court noted that the only act imputed against her was the alleged issuance of a purchase order to CC Barredo for the delivery of 4,850 sets of livelihood technology kits worth P9.7 million on March 21, 2007.
Alberto denied having participated in the transaction, attacking the authenticity of the purchase order bearing her signature which she claimed to be a forgery.
The court likewise said the relationship between Alberto to Antonio does not automatically establish the supposed conspiracy between them and the other accused.
“As consistently held by the Supreme Court, conspiracy transcends companionship. There must be established a logical relationship between the commission of the crime and the supposed conspirators, evidencing a clear and more intimate connection between and among the latter,” the Sandiganbayan pointed out.
Without any handwriting experts presented during the trial, the court conducted its examination of the PDAF documents bearing Alberto’s signature and her specimen signatures on various documents submitted by the accused, including the birth certificate of her child and several bank checks issued in 2008 or less than a year from the PDAF transactions.
“After a scrupulous examination of the aforesaid specimen signatures, the Court is convinced that the same were not written by the same person. Even to the untrained eye, the differences between the signatures are patent,” the court declared.
It held that the forged documents were sufficient to destroy the prosecution’s theory of conspiracy due to the absence of “any credible evidence showing how accused Alberto acted in cooperation to achieve a common malicious purpose.”
“To reiterate, conspiracy must be proved as convincingly as the criminal act itself. Like any element of the offense charged, conspiracy must be established by proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” the Sandiganbayan said.
Since Alberto’s co-accused including Javellana, her sister Marilou Antonio, and businesswoman Carmelita Barredo remain at large, the court ordered the cases against them to be archived while an alias warrant was issued against them.
