FORMER Lingig, Surigao del Sur mayor Roberto Luna Jr., two other municipal officials, and a trader have been convicted of graft by the Sandiganbayan in connection with irregularities in the procurement of P18.93 million from a lawmaker’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) in 2007.
Sentenced to six to eight years imprisonment together with Lu-na were Municipal Bids and Awards Committee vice chairman Jethro Lindo, municipal treasurer Ebrencio Indoyon Jr., and businesswoman Ma. Luzviminda Lopez, president of supplier-contractor Philflex Trading and General Merchandise.
Luna, Lindo, and Indoyon were also perpetually disqualified from holding public office, a penalty that was not imposed against Lopez, being a private defendant.
All four were also ordered to pay the municipality of Lingig P18,928,571.43 representing the value of the procurement of in-formation and communications technology (IT) equipment, subject to six percent annual interest until paid in full.
The 98-page decision was penned by Associate Justice Ma. Theresa Dolores C. Gomez-Estoesta, with Associate Justices Zaldy V. Trespeses and Georgina D. Hidalgo concurring.
Prosecutors said the procurement was funded from the PDAF or “pork barrel” allocations of former Surigao del Sur Rep. Peter Paul Jed C. Falcon, who died on November 12, 2021, months before the case was resolved.
While Falcon was named a co-accused on the case, the court said his death extinguished all his criminal and civil liabilities in connection with the case.
In convicting the four, the anti-graft court’s Seventh Division declared that the prosecution established by convincing evidence the existence of conspiracy among them.
It said the transaction was a “ghost delivery” since a technical audit led by an engineer determined that the IT gadgets consisting of 71 handsets of long range and super long range cordless radios never arrived. This was attested to by incumbent local officials who confirmed that no such delivery took place.
The Acceptance and Inspection Report was unsigned and undated while the delivery receipt was also not acknowledged by any official of the municipality of Lingig.
The Sandiganbayan said the accused tried to avoid liability by describing the limitations of their participation and “passing the buck” to their other co-defendants.
“(T)he series of acts of the accused and their respective approvals despite the striking irregularities in the documents show that they had the ultimate goal to award the contract to Philflex and approve the payment despite the lack of delivery to the Munici-pality of Lingig,” the Sandiganbayan said.
