Ex-tribal agency official gets 25 years for fund malversation

The former director of the Bureau of Tribal Relations and External Affairs (BTREA) was sentenced to a total of 25 years imprisonment by the Sandiganbayan for the mishandling of funds intended for the agency’s projects 15 years ago. In its ruling, Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division convicted Trinidad Sibug for anomalies in the handling of cash advances for the BTREA's projects between December 1991 and January 1992. BTREA is an agency under the Office of the Southern Cultural Communities (OSCC) now named National Commission on Indigenous People. The graft court found guilty Sibug guilty of malversation of public funds for which she received a 17 year maximum jail term. Sibug also got an additional eight-year jail term for falsification of public documents. The court also fined Sibug P13,687.25 and slapped a lifetime ban from appointment or election to any public office. In its 82-page ruling penned by Associate Justice Roland Jurado, the court also sentenced former OSCC Region XII Director Marino B. Icdang to eight years in prison for knowingly tolerating Sibug's falsification of documents to hide the anomaly. Trial records showed Sibug secured a P105,000 cash advance in December 1991 to finance a tribal leadership training and to construct a tribal hall. Of the amount, P65,000 was to earmarked for the Manobo Kulaman Tribe in Kulaman, Senator Ninoy Aquino town in Sultan Kudarat province while the remaining P40,000 was to go to similar projects in Mindoro. Bro. Mauricio Zuyco, a Catholic missionary monitoring government projects for the Manobos, reported to the OSCC that the development projects were never implemented. Sandy Padilla, OSCC development officer in the area, later found a reimbursement report on his desk pertaining to the Manobo projects and forwarded copies to Zuyco. The letters, however, turned out to be acknowledgment receipts signed by supposed lecturers on the tribal leadership seminars. Among the alleged signatories was Zuyco himself who knew no such seminar took place. Zuyco traced six other lecturers and discovered that they too did not conduct any seminar and subsequently, received no payment. Based on his formal complaint, an investigation was conducted by the Commission on Audit in coordination with the Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao. The probe found that Sibug falsified the expense report. To cover up her tracks, she withdrew the liquidation vouchers and issued a new set which again turned out to be spurious after auditors that the funding source was a different office. Likewise, Sibug failed to produce the P45,000 allotted for the construction of a tribal hall when auditors demanded that she do so. In its ruling, Sandiganbayan also said Icdang was convicted even if the prosecution did not allege any conspiracy between him and Sibug. The court said Icdang knowingly tolerated the falsification by signing the vouchers even if he knew that the training was never conducted. - GMANews.TV