FORMER Trento, Agusan del Sur mayor Johnmark Billanes and his brother, private defendant Romeo Billanes Jr., have been convicted of graft by the Sandiganbayan over the municipal government’s purchase of a 7,775-square meters property owned by the latter in 2012.
Both were meted six to eight years imprisonment, with perpetual disqualification from holding public office.
The former mayor was also convicted of an additional case for illegal use of public funds penalized under Article 220 of the Revised Penal Code for using funds intended for a farm-to-market road project to pay his own brother. The court ordered him to pay a P500,000 fine.
Associate Justice Zaldy V. Trespeses penned both decisions, with Associate Justices Ma. Theresa Dolores C. Gomez-Estoesta and Georgina D. Hidalgo concurring.
Prosecution evidence showed the mayor’s brother was paid P1 million for the lot that was intended for a rice processing center.
The court noted that the Sangguniang Bayan Resolution No. 0231-2012 was approved more than two weeks ahead of the private defendant’s submission of the Formal Offer to Sell and Affidavit of Availability of Real Property (FOSAARP).
At the time of the sale, prosecutors said the lot was still encumbered with the Land Bank of the Philippines.
“Johnmark showed evident bad faith in approving the purchase of Romeo’s lot, which was still encumbered and more than ripe for foreclosure. The title of Romeo’s lot shows on its face that the LBP had a lien thereon by way of mortgage,” the Sandiganbayan said.
