THE Sandiganbayan has affirmed a 2023 judgment of the Regional Trial Court of Virac, Catanduanes that convicted a former public school principal on charges of malversation of public funds and falsification of public documents.
In a 45-page decision penned by Associate Justice Ma. Theresa Dolores C. Gomez-Estoesta, the anti-graft court’s Seventh Division sustained the RTC’s pronouncement that Anchelita Sicio, former principal of Taytay Elementary School in Virac, was guilty of the crimes charged.
Likewise upheld was the penalty of imprisonment for four months to three years and six months, with a P5,000 fine and perpetual disqualification from holding a government post.
The Sandiganbayan also imposed another P5,000 as civil liability subject to six percent legal interest per year until fully paid.
In the falsification case, Sicio was sentenced to six months to eight years imprisonment with a P3,000 fine.
Associate Justices Zaldy V. Trespeses and Georgina D. Hidalgo concurred.
The cases stemmed from a complaint by Salve Templo who replaced Sicio as Taytay Elementary School principal after the respondent transferred to the Caramoran Central Elementary School.
The complainant said she found out that there was an unliquidated financial assistance totaling P7,000 that was earlier given to Sicio from the Office of the Vice Governor of Catanduanes and that the release of a second cash assistance of P1,500 was made conditional upon the liquidation of the previous fund release.
Upon examination of the support documents, Templo and school teacher Mary Ann Gonzales found the receipt from YKKY General Merchandise suspicious because of obvious tampering on the document.
During the trial, prosecutors showed that the actual procurement was only eight bags of cement worth P2,000 but the numbers on the receipt were roughly changed to make it appear that the purchase involved more bags, hence a bigger sum.
The “8” bags of cement became 28 while the payment was falsified to change from P2,000 to P7,000.
A copy of the original sales invoice showing only eight bags of cement were bought for the price of P2,000 bolstered the charges against the accused.
The owner of the YKKY Merchandise, Gary Sarmiento, likewise testified in court that he only wrote P2,000 because the bags of cement were sold at P250 each. He denied that he was the one who changed the figure to P7,000.
“In the face of this disclaimer by Gary Sarmiento that the amount of PHP 7,000 in Exhibit “A” was not his own making, the accused-appellant necessarily had to answer to this discrepancy. In her bid to present two transactions, however, the accused-appellant was silent on the discrepancy,” the court pointed out.
Being the school principal at the time of the transaction entrusted with custody over public funds, the court held that there was prima facie evidence that she “appropriated, took, and misappropriated” the money, proving the malversation charge.
“No one else would have benefited more in the act of tampering than the accused-appellant herself. An alleged sabotage job by someone else in an attempt to frame the principal, as the defense suggests, is baseless, without concrete proof to support the same,” the Sandiganbayan declared.
