BY Peter Tabingo
ROMEO Pañares, a cashier of the Cebu Ports Authority, can now heave a sigh of relief after the Sandiganbayan Second Division reversed a 2017 decision of the Cebu City Regional Trial Court Branch 23 that convicted him for malversation of public funds punishable by a vacation of 10 to 14 years in the slammer.
In its decision dated June 2, 2025, the anti-graft court held that contrary to the findings of the local court, the alleged shortage in the cash collections of the defendant was not established with certainty, hence he deserves an acquittal.
According to the charge sheet filed on August 2, 2007 by the Office of the Ombudsman – Visa-yas, Pañares was accused of failing to account for a P15,817.70 shortage in his collections. The amount was believed to have been unlawfully converted for his personal use and benefit.
The indictment stemmed from the report of the resident auditor of the Cebu Ports Authority that irregularities were found in the account of the defendant during a review of the records in 2004.
However, the Sandiganbayan said only the first three elements of the criminal offense charged were proven: that Pañares was a public officer, that he had custody or control over properties or funds as part of his duties, and that the funds involved were public funds for which he was ac-countable.
It sustained the defendant’s argument that there was no proof beyond reasonable doubt that he had incurred a shortage in his collections. Without a cash shortage, there could be no misappro-priation, conversion, or less, hence no malversation.
The court noted that based on the testimony of senior accounting processor Nemi Gulfan, the bookkeeper who was assigned to monitor the daily collections and remittances of Pañares, the accused did not incur any shortage in his account.
Likewise, while the accused acknowledged having incurred shortages in his collection, he said these were attributable to erroneous entries, which he was able to straighten out.
More importantly, the court noted that Pañares had already made restitutions long before he was the case against him was filed.
“In this regard, it should be recalled that the presumption of innocence in favor of an accused in a criminal case is a basic Constitutional guarantee. Every reasonable doubt of his guilt entitles him to an acquittal,” the Sandiganbayan said.
