Ex-Iloilo mayor acquitted of 46 counts of graft, malversation

The Sandiganbayan acquitted the former mayor of Sara, Iloilo of 46 counts of graft and malversation, stemming from the disbursement of public funds in 2004, as the prosecution failed to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

In a 62-page decision promulgated on September 1, the Anti-Graft Court acquitted former Mayor Neptali Salcedo, former Municipal Engineer Roel Salcedo, and former Municipal Treasurer Edna Pacrim of Violation of Section 3(e) of RA 3019 and malversation through falsification.

“Let the departure orders against the accused by reason of these cases be lifted and set aside, and their bonds released, subject to the usual accounting and auditing procedure,” the Court added.

In 2004, the three were charged with acting with evident bad faith and manifest partiality for causing the disbursement of public funds despite allegedly questionable and deficient documentation through their signatories in the Time Book and Payrolls, a document involved in the payment of claimants.

They were also accused of converting for their personal use and benefit various amounts of public funds by allegedly signing in the Time Book and Payrolls to make it appear that named payees received their wages despite knowing they had not.

However, the Court said that though it observed irregularities in the document, the prosecution failed to show how the said irregularities were connected to Neptali Salcedo and Roel Salcedo and how they acted with evident bad faith.

Further, it said the prosecution failed to prove that the projects and workers indicated in the document were fictitious.

Though witnesses presented claimed that they did not work on the project and were not paid, the Court said the prosecution failed to prove that these individuals were the workers indicated in the Time Book and Payrolls and were not merely persons with the same name.

“Thus, the prosecution, having failed to show that the listed workers did not in fact render service in connection with the subject projects, this Court cannot conclude that accused Roel Salcedo and Neptali Salcedo acted with bad faith and manifest partiality,” it said.

Meanwhile, the Court said that it found Pacrim to have acted with gross inexcusable negligence when she made her certifications in the Time Book and Payrolls.

Despite this, the Sandiganbyan said this cannot be used as a basis for Pacrim’s conviction for graft as it was not alleged in the information filed against her.

“In Villarosa v. People, the Supreme Court held that an accused cannot be convicted on the basis of gross inexcusable negligence if the Information alleges evident bad faith only,” it said.

Further, it said that though the prosecution was able to prove that Pacrim committed falsification by making untruthful statements, she also cannot be convicted based on the facts proved because the acts in the information filed against her were different.

Pacrim previously claimed that the individuals listed in the document presented themselves and affixed their signatures and thumb on the spaces provided, a claim later proven to be false.

Despite this, the Court said there was also no evidence that would prove that the payees were not paid the amounts they were entitled to.

“The information, on the other hand, charges the accused, specifically, with causing the said signatures to be affixed in the Time Book and Payrolls to make it appear that the listed payees received their wages,” it said.

“As previously discussed… the prosecution may have proved that the listed payees did not sign the Time Book and Payrolls, but it failed to prove that they also did not in fact receive the amounts indicated in the documents,” it added. — DVM, GMA News