Sandiganbayan orders arrest, imprisonment of ex-PNPA director convicted of graft 

The Sandiganbayan has ordered the arrest and imprisonment of a former director of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) despite his claim of having frail health and expressing intent to surrender voluntarily to the provincial governor of Sultan Kudarat.

The anti-graft court’s Third Division denied retired Chief Supt. Dionisio Coloma Jr.’s motion against issuing a warrant for his arrest after the Supreme Court affirmed his conviction for graft in 2012, saying his plea is “bereft of merit.”

In a resolution released this week, the Sandiganbayan upheld the prosecution’s argument that the issuance of a warrant of arrest “is a logical consequence” of the execution and enforcement of the SC’s final judgment finding Coloma guilty of graft over an anomalous P5.73-million building contract in Bongao, Tawi-tawi.

“Once the judgment of conviction becomes final and executory, the trial court has the ministerial duty to immediately execute the penalty of imprisonment and or pecuniary penalty (fine). A motion to execute judgment of conviction is not necessary,” the court said.

Aside from ordering his arrest, the Sandiganbayan also denied Coloma’s request to be allowed to serve his jail sentence at the Davao Penal Colony.

The anti-graft court said Circular No. 63-97 of the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) already provides rules as to where convicts should be committed, depending on the region they belong to.

Accordingly, the Sandiganbayan has directed officials of the PNP in Tacurong City to turn Coloma over to the San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Sur.

Coloma was convicted of graft and sentenced to six to 10 years in prison after he was found guilty of allowed full payment of P5.73 million to a contractor in 2001 for a training facility when the construction cost only amounted to P3.18 million.

The anti-graft court said the former PNPA director caused undue injury to the Philippine Public Safety College by allowing the government to lose P2.5 million by jacking up the payment for the contractor.

Coloma appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court, which in turn sustained the Sandiganbayan’s decision in a in a ruling issued in 2014. — VVP, GMA News