ENCARNITA Munsod was only in her second month as a probationary employee of the National Agribusiness Corp. (Nabcor) when she signed several disbursement vouchers on March 19 and April 24, 2007.
Those documents proved crucial in the release of P14.55 million Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or “pork barrel” allocations of former Nueva Ecija Rep. Rodolfo Antonino to a private foundation named Buhay Mo Mahal Ko Foundation Inc. (BMMKFI).
The non-government organization was supposed to use the money to buy “livelihood training kits” from C.C. Barredo Enterprises for distribution to Antonino’s constituents and that was the point where Munsod’s fortunes took a turn for the worse.
The procurement, the distribution, and the liquidation documents all turned out to be bogus as local government officials of Gapan City and the municipalities of San Isidro, General Tinio, Cabiao, Jaen, Peñaranda, and San Leonardo in Nueva Ecija denied ever receiving any of the livelihood training kits.
When the case went to court in 2017, Munsod was a lowly public official indicted together with Rep. Antonino, former Department of Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, Nabcor president Alan Javellana, Nabcor vice president for finance Rhodora Mendoza, accounting division OIC Maria Ninez Guanizo and private defendants Marilou Antonio and Carmelita Barredo from the supplier/contractor CC Barredo.
A year later, Yap, Mendoza, and Guanizo got their cases dismissed on the ground that the Ombudsman took too long to complete its investigation, causing a violation of their rights to speedy disposition of cases.
Javellana, Antonio, and Barredo evaded the court’s jurisdiction and remained at large.
Only Munsod and Antonino stood trial, and in the end, the Nueva Ecija congressman was acquitted.
Despite her plea that she was not yet a regular employee when the transactions happened, she was still convicted on all two counts of graft and two counts of malversation of public funds — the only one held to account.
“Granting arguendo that accused Munsod was a de facto officer during her probationary period, …it makes no difference. Certifying the DVs cannot be downplayed as a ministerial function. It demands the exercise of sound discretion,” the Sandiganbayan said.
Even as the court took note of her explanation that she relied on co-accused Mendoza who was her superior, it held that she should not have obeyed orders blindly.
“Accused Munsod failed to exercise any modicum of precaution and appeared to have callously disregarded the pernicious consequence of her action. No compelling reasons or substantial argument can persuade the Court to change the assailed decision,” it declared.
In addition to serving time in prison, Munsod was ordered to pay P14.55 million as a fine and P14.55 million as civil liability.
