Ex-Bukidnon mayor gets up to 34 years jail term for graft, falsification

The Sandiganbayan has sentenced a former mayor of San Fernando, Bukidnon with up to 34 years of imprisonment for graft and falsification of public documents over the procurement of a bulldozer and soil compactor amounting to P14 million in 2004.

In a 123-page decision promulgated on August 26, the anti-graft court sentenced Laurencia Edma, the former mayor, and Felipa Catanus, then municipal accountant, to a minimum imprisonment of six years and one month to a maximum of 10 years for violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices.

They are also perpetually disqualified from holding public office.

Edma and Catanus were accused of conspiring with one another with evident bad faith, gross inexcusable negligence, and manifest partiality to willfully, unlawfully, and criminally give unwarranted benefit or advantage to Monark Equipment Corporation.

The Court pointed out that no competitive bidding for the items was conducted.

“Having found that all the elements for the crime of violation of Section 3(e) of RA 3019 existed and that by their unity of action, a conspiracy existed between accused Edma and Catanus, they must only be held accountable for said offense,” it said.

Falsification charges

The court also found Edma guilty beyond reasonable doubt of three counts of falsification of public document, sentencing her to a maximum imprisonment of up to 24 years.

In another falsification case, Edma and then state auditor Carlito Matias were sentenced to a minimum imprisonment of four months and one day and a maximum of eight years to one day.

They are also ordered to pay a fine of P5,000.

Edma, Matias, Catanus, and Menchie Landicho, then municipal budget officer and Edma’s private secretary, were accused of falsifying the November minutes, a public document issued by the local government unit which claimed that the committee on award published an invitation to bid in the Mindanao Philippines Sunday Journal.

The court said a review revealed that no invitation was published.

“It was revealed that accused Edma made use of said minutes to hurdle the COA's investigation, by way of special audit, of the subject procurement,” it said.

“For accused Matias, the falsification charges against him were born from his suspicious handling of the special audit of the procurement in question,” it added.

Meanwhile, Catanus and Landicho were acquitted.

In the falsification charges, Edma, Matias, and Mindanao Philippines Sunday Journal business manager Bernardita Basay were sentenced to a minimum imprisonment of two years and four months and a maximum of eight years and one day for each case.

They were ordered to pay a total of P10,000 for both cases.

According to the court, each of the accused took advantage of their respective positions in falsifying the Invitation to Bid aside from Catanus.

Catanus was acquitted in both cases for the failure of the prosecution to prove her guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

The court, meanwhile, ordered the release of the cash bonds posted by Catanus and Landichio after they were acquitted from some of the cases, subject to the usual audit and accounting procedures.

It also lifted the hold departure orders issued against Catanus and Landicho.

“The Order issued by the Bureau of Immigration incorporating the names of said accused in the Hold Departure List is ordered recalled and canceled,” it said.—LDF, GMA News