THE Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the conviction of a former mayor of Dapitan City for misuse of confidential and intel funds amounting to nearly P1 million.
In a decision promulgated on January 27 this year but only made public recently, the SC’s first division, through Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando, affirmed the Sandiganbayan’s decision finding former mayor Joseph Cedrick Ruiz guilty of violating Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code on malversation of public funds.
Ruiz served as mayor of Dapitan City in Zamboanga del Norte from 1998 to 2001.
Records of the case showed that just weeks before the end of his term, he ordered City Deputy Chief of Police Pepe Nortal to request a cash advance of P1 million, representing the city’s entire 2001 confidential funds, supposedly to address post-election violence.
Despite objections from the city’s finance officers and Nortal’s hesitation, Ruiz approved the request and signed the disbursement documents.
Nortal encashed the check and turned the money over to Ruiz, who gave him P50,000 to finance a police anti-drug operation but failed to account for the rest of the funds.
The police officer later filed a complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman.
During the trial before the anti-graft court, Ruiz denied receiving, much less pocketing the money, telling the court that Nortal was responsible for the request.
However, the Sandiganbayan rejected his defense and convicted him.
Ruiz then appealed his conviction before the High Court, but the latter affirmed the Sandiganbayan’s decision, adding that Nortal is a credible witness in the case.
“The Court gives great weight and credit to the Sandiganbayan’s assessment of the credibility of the witness in the absence of arbitrariness, abuse of discretion, or lack of palpable error. This is because it has the opportunity to observe first-hand the deportment and demeanor of a prosecution witness during the trial,” the SC ruling read.
“Here, the Court agrees with the Sandiganbayan that Nortal is a credible state witness,” it added.
The High Court held that Ruiz committed corruption when, after losing the elections, he instructed Nortal to request the release of the confidential funds just weeks before the end of his term as mayor.
It stressed that if Ruiz had genuinely intended to use the funds to address post-election violence, he should not have requested the full amount allocated for the entire year.
“His action caused harm to the city, as it depleted the city’s confidential funds and forced it to realign its remaining resources,” the SC said, adding it found Ruiz’s request to be made in bad faith.
The SC explained that because of his previous unliquidated advances, Ruiz could not directly request additional funds himself and instead used Nortal to make and submit the request on his behalf, while he still signed as a co-requesting official and coordinated with other finance officers to ensure that the funds were released.
“Ruiz committed malversation when he used the confidential funds for personal gain. As mayor, he had control and responsibility over these funds. He signed the disbursement voucher, making him the approving authority for the cash advance. Without his signature, the check could not have been issued,” the SC added.
In the same ruling, the SC warned public officials against committing graft and corruption, as it emphasized that public office is a public trust:
“A person’s desire to hold public office should not be based on selfish ambitions to enrich oneself at the expense of the government; worse, of the public. For a public post is not and should not be looked at as a lucrative business, where the primary mission is to make oneself abundant and gain advantage for his or her own comfort and satisfaction,” it added.
The SC imposed the penalty on Ruiz of imprisonment for a minimum of six years to a maximum of eight years, perpetual disqualification from holding public office, and a fine of P950,000 equal to the amount of the misappropriated funds.
Associate Justices Amy Lazaro- Javier, Rodil Zalameda, Ricardo Rosario, and Jose Midas Marquez concurred with the decision.
