Sandigan finds ex-Bohol mayor guilty of illegal fee collections

The Sandiganbayan has found the former mayor of Carmen, Bohol guilty of illegal exaction for his supposed unlawful collection of fees from business permit applicants in 2009 amounting to P110,700.

In a 22-page decision dated May 31, the court's Second Division thus ordered former mayor Manuel Del Rosario Molina to pay a maximum fine of P10,000, considering he already paid the alleged amount.

The same penalty was meted against former municipal treasurer Fulgencio Vinas Pana.

The case stemmed from Molina and Pana's collection of P300 from more than 400 applicants of municipal business permits (business plates) between January to February 2009 despite the lack of an ordinance authorizing additional fees aside from those allowed by law.

Molina, in his defense, said he is not directly involved in the fee collection nor was he the public officer tasked to take custody of the funds. He instead pointed to Pana as the person responsible.

However, the Sandiganbayan said both then-Sangguniang Panlalawigan secretary and prosecution witness Carol Madaje testified on the lack of an ordinance on the fee collection.

It added the former local chief executive himself admitted in court that all programs of the local government were under his supervision.

The Sandiganbayan thus said Molina ignored his role under the Local Government Code, which states that a mayor should "ensure that all taxes and other revenues of the municipality are collected."

"It is on the basis of such power of general supervision and control that it would be bordering on the unlikely that the business plates patently bearing his image and signature could be procured and distributed without his consent or knowledge," the decision read.

The Sandiganbayan said that Molina and Pana's sentences were reduced after they refunded the P110,700 and due to adjustments in penalties under the Revised Penal Code. — BM, GMA News