Ex-mayor in Davao Oriental gets 10 years for graft

The Sandiganbayan has sentenced former Baganga, Davao Oriental mayor Gerry Morales to six to 10 years in jail after finding him guilty of graft in connection with the procurement of 11,000 pieces of deworming tablets worth P196,000 in 2001.

In a 21-page decision, Morales and his co-accused — former municipal officials Emeritos Jovilla, Francisco Jimenez and Reymundo Escamillan — were found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of violating Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Aside from a jail sentence, the court also ordered the accused to pay the government P196,000 as civil liability and were meted out the accessory penalty of perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

During the trial, state prosecutors established that Morales and his co-accused connived with each other and acted with evident bad faith in procuring 110 boxes of Mebendazole deworming tablets under the guise of an emergency purchase to circumvent the law on competitive public bidding.

The supporting documents for the transactions, however, were questionable since they lacked signatures, and the sales invoice was issued before the purchase order.

In its decision, the Sandiganbayan said the inconsistent allegations of the accused “lead this Court to believe that they attempted to circumvent the more exacting rules for public bidding by classifying the procurement as an emergency purchase.”

The court said deworming medicines cannot be considered as an emergency purchase even if there was a Sangguniang Bayan Resolution stating there is a calamity. —KBK, GMA News