Ex-barangay captain in Pasig convicted of unlawful use of public funds

The Metropolitan Trial Court of Pasig City has convicted a former chairman of Barangay Manggahan over the unlawful re-alignment of public funds intended for a housing relocation site.

In a press statement from the Office of the Ombudsman, the court convicted former barangay captain Cresenciano Cruz for three counts of technical malversation and has ordered him to pay a total fine of P30,000.

The Ombudsman said the court also convicted then-barangay officials Amador Balba, Ricardo Faraon, and Bobby Bobis.

The case stemmed from the barangay's allocation of P2.18 million of its annual budget to a relocation project in 2004.

Records obtained by investigators, however, revealed that Cruz approved three separate resolutions on September 25, 2001 authorizing the re-alignment of P600,000 for the purchase of computers, handheld radios, and other supplies.

In its ruling, MTC Judge Christian Emmanuel Pimentel said the Ombudsman "was able to establish the guilt of the respondents as it is evident that the resolutions were approved unanimously by them. Therefore, it can only be concluded that there was unity of purpose, and the respondents came to an agreement to re-align the funds.”

Respondents Faraon and Bobis had argued that they should not be held liable for the offense since they do not have control over the public funds, saying that Cruz had control of the funds even without their approval.

Pimentel ruled, however, that Faraon and Bobis are still accountable since their signatures were found in the barangay resolution.

“Assuming that Faraon and Bobis’ power is legislative in nature, the same still does not exonerate them from criminal liability as their signatures on the resolutions are unequivocal proof that they participated in the re-aligning of the public funds,” the MTC ruling said.

Article 220 of the Revised Penal Code states that public officials must not apply any public fund or property to anything other than its intended use. — BM/KVD, GMA News