Ex-Nueva Ecija governor, 2 others get six to ten years over vehicle donations

The Sandiganbayan has former Nueva Ecija Governor Tomas Joson III and two other former mayors guilty of three counts of graft over his unlawful donation of six provincial government vehicles to two municipalities of Nueva Ecija without legal basis.

In a 57-page decision, the Sandiganbayan said that Joson’s donations in 2007 of a mobile clinic, a Toyota Revo, a Ford F-150, a Nissan Urvan, a Nissan Terrano and a Ford Expedition—to the municipalities of Quezon and Bongabon, Nueva Ecija violated the Local Government Code.

As a result of their conviction, Tomas III and Eduardo Joson as well as Gamilla were each sentenced to spend a minimum six years to one month to as much as 10 years in jail and are perpetually disqualified from holding public office.

The law required that government property should be deemed unserviceable by state auditors before it could be so disposed.

“There is absolutely nothing in the evidence presented to show that the service vehicles subject of the donations were unserviceable," the court ruled.

"The records, likewise, do not disclose that there were inventories showing that the same were unserviceable for any cause or were no longer needed by the Provincial Government at the time the same were donated to the Municipalities of Quezon and Bongabon,” it added.

Aside from lack of documentation, the Sandiganbayan cited the testimony of rebuttal witness Anacleta Arucan—a municipal employee of Quezon, Nueva Ecija since 1986—who said that she always saw the vehicles in question plying their roads and thus, it could be assumed serviceable.

In addition, the anti-graft court pointed out that Joson was not able to justify the donation of the subject vehicles on the basis that the Provincial Government no longer needed the same.

“Without an actual inventory or any other similar report on the assets owned by the Provincial Government, it was difficult to imagine that the donations made by accused Tomas Joson involved only the surplus vehicles that the Provincial Government had no need of or the fact that they were unserviceable,” the anti-graft court said.

“The province of Nueva Ecija is comprised of five cities, 27 municipalities, 849 nine barangays, not to mention its land mass of approximately 550,000 hectares. The need of the Provincial Government of these subject vehicles to carry out its mandate of administration of the subdivisions of the Province, and to deliver basic services to its constituents, was thus a looming exigency,” the anti-graft court added.

Further, the Sandiganbayan also junked Joson’s defense that he made the donation out of concern and patriotism.

“Liberality and loyalty has no place in the disposal of government property. These subject vehicles are not private appropriations for the head of the local government o give away at will. If this [will] be so, such liberality and loyalty can easily be disguised for their political underpinnings, which obviously cannot be countenanced at any given circumstance,” the anti-graft court said.

“The donations, therefore, should have only observed the procedure in the disposal of government properties. Accused Tomas Joson clearly disregarded mandatory procedure when he merely received requests from his constituents, relied on the approval of the donations by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan through Kapasiyahan Big. 37-A, S. 2007 and accepted at face value favorable action by the donees-municipal mayors in receiving the property respectively given to them,” the anti-graft court added.

The anti-graft court was referring to then mayors who are Joson’s co-accused in the case namely Amelia Gamilla of municipality of Bongabon and Eduardo Joson of municipality of Quezon.

“It is easy to discern that the impropriety of the donations of the subject vehicles caused damage to the Provincial Government as its ability to render basic services to its constituents was undermined by the deprivation of the use of its vehicles. The undue injury suffered by the Provincial Government, therefore, was all too real,” the anti-graft court said in closing. —NB, GMA News