Sandiganbayan junks appeals of two ex-Nabcor execs in pork barrel scam

The Sandiganbayan has denied the motions for reconsideration of two former  National Agribusiness Corporation (Nabcor) officials appealing their convictions related to the pork barrel scam due to lack of merit.

In a decision dated December 19, 2022, the anti-graft court junked the separate appeals filed by former Nabcor Human Resources manager Encarnita-Cristina Munsod and General Services Unit head Romulo Relevo.

According to the Sandiganbayan, the two presented no substantial arguments in their appeals and that the issues they raised have already been considered by the court in its September 2022 decision convicting them.

The case involved the embezzlement of P4.85 million worth of public funds that formed part of the P10-billion pork barrel, or Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), scam.

In its decision, the court cited that Munsod and Relevo signed the box A of the Disbursement Voucher Nos. 08-01 -00200 and 08-07-02229, respectively, which certified documents as complete and proper and ultimately allowed the transfer of P4.85 million of the discretionary/pork barrel fund of then-Eastern Samar Representative Teodulo Coquilla to non-government entity GabayMasa.

The court said GabayMasa was chosen by Coquilla despite it not being specifically included in the list of authorized implementing bodies under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2007.

"In finding that conspiracy exists, the Court found that the accused committed their respective overt acts in order to accomplish the ultimate objective: to embezzle the PDAF-drawn funds through the implementation  of a fictitious and non-existent  livelihood project," the Sandiganbayan said.

Munsod, in her appeal, said she is not a signatory of Disbursement Voucher No. 08-07-02229, and that there was no glaring deficiency in the attached supporting documents to the disbursement vouchers.

She also argued that there was no evidence sufficient to prove the supposed conspiracy among the accused.

The Sandiganbayan, however, was not convinced.

"To put it differently, were it not for the act of accused Munsod in signing box '"A" of Disbursement Voucher No. 08-01-00200, accused Relevo could not have acted to sign box "A" of Disbursement Voucher No. 08-07-02229, thereby perpetrating the charges under  Criminal Case Nos. SB- l 7-CRM-0064 and SB-l 7-CRM-0066," it said.

The Sandiganbayan said the prosecution was able to prove that Munsod "willingly" affixed her signature on box "A" of Disbursement Voucher No. 08-07-02229 despite the fact that  GabayMasa did not appear in the project proposal, and that her usual job description does not entail the signing of the disbursement voucher in relation to corporate and project funds.

These circumstances, the court ruled, should have prompted Munsod to exercise due diligence.

In the case of Relevo, the Sandiganbayan said his testimony before the was clear that the following irregularities existed:

• only a verbal authority was granted by accused Coquilla to accused  Relevo;
• accused Relevo had hesitations and reservations about accepting the verbal authority; and
• he had knowledge that the signing of the disbursement voucher is totally foreign from his functions and duties as the Head of the General Services Unit

The Sandiganbayan reiterated that Munsod's function in directly supervising the expenses incurred requires the evaluation of the qualification of GabayMasa and the assessment of the sufficiency of the MOA in compliance with existing laws such as the 2007 national budget, COA Circular No. 2007-001, among others.

"Indeed, the act of signing the disbursement voucher and certifying the availability of funds also involves an obligation of ensuring that the documents and the attachments complied with the existing accounting and auditing guidelines on the release of funds to NGOs," it said.

Relevo insisted that the court erred in finding him acting in conspiracy with all other accused in committing the crimes charged because the prosecution failed to prove the presence of conspiracy and that he acted with evident bad faith, manifest partiality or, at the very least, gross inexcusable negligence.

This reasoning, however, did not stand before the court.

"Contrary to the assertion made by accused Relevo, the prosecution had sufficiently established beyond reasonable doubt that the selection of GabayMasa was deliberate," it said. —KBK, GMA Integrated News