Sandiganbayan finds ex-QC councilor guilty of graft

The Sandiganbayan has found former Quezon City councilor Dante de Guzman guilty of four counts of graft in connection with illegal purchases of P7.98 million worth of raincoats, tents, and sports supplies from 2008 to 2009.

In a 104-page decision, the Sandiganbayan sentenced de Guzman to six to eight years of jail time for each of his graft convictions, on top of the penalty of perpetual disqualification from public office and civil liability of at least P6.4 million payable to the Quezon City government.

The anti-graft court said the purchases were received by de Guzman’s office but were never distributed to intended beneficiaries because the area coordinators stated in the distribution list were not the area coordinators at that time as testified by prosecution witnesses Rebecca Pacunla and Edward Gallardo.

Pacunla and Gallardo also told the anti-graft court that they did not receive such supplies.

Further, the Sandigabayan cited that the documents related to the purchase were falsified, and the signatures in them were forged.

“The names of the area coordinators in the distribution list for the tents, the distribution list for the kiddie raincoats and rainboots, and the distribution list for the food supplies, are the same, but the signatures above the names for each distribution list are different, indicating that someone just wrote signatures above the names to make it appear that the area coordinators received the pertinent items,” the Sandiganbayan said.

“The previously-mentioned distribution lists appear to have been prepared and falsified to conceal the non-distribution of the subject items,” the court added.

As a result, the Sandiganbayan said the Quezon City government  suffered an undue injury in the amount of P6,411,261.01, representing the amounts paid by the Quezon City government for the subject items which could no longer be located or accounted for “because of accused de Guzman's negligence.”

De Guzman, however, was acquitted of four counts of falsification of public documents and four counts of malversation of public property due to the failure of the prosecution to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.—LDF, GMA Integrated News