FORMER Lingig, Surigao del Sur mayor Roberto Luna Jr., two other municipal officials, and a trader have been convicted of graft by the Sandiganbayan in connection with irregularities in the procurement of P18.93 million in 2007 from a lawmaker’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
Sentenced to six to eight years imprisonment together with Luna were Municipal Bids and Awards Committee vice chairman Jethro Lindo, municipal treasurer Ebrencio Indoyon Jr., and businesswoman Ma. Luzviminda Lopez, president of supplier-contractor Philflex Trading and General Merchandise.
Luna, Lindo, and Indoyon were also held perpetually disqualified from holding another public office, a penalty that was no imposed against Lopez being a private defendant. All four were likewise ordered to pay the municipality of Lingig P18,928,571.43 representing the value of the procurement of information and communications technology (IT) equipment, subject to six percent annual interest until paid in full.
The 98-page Decision was penned by Associate Justice Ma. Theresa Dolores C. Gomez-Estoesta with Associate Justices Zaldy V. Trespeses and Georgina D. Hidalgo concurring. Prosecutors said the procurement was funded from the PDAF or “pork barrel” allocations of former Surigao del Sur Rep. Peter Paul Jed C. Falcon who died on November 12, 2021 months before the case was resolved. While Falcon was named a co-accused on the case, the court held that his death extinguished all his criminal and civil liabilities in connection with the case.
In convicting the four defendants, the anti-graft court’s Seventh Division declared that the prosecution established by convincing evidence the existence of conspiracy among them. It held that the transaction was a “ghost delivery” since a technical audit led by an engineer determined that the IT gadgets consisting of 71 handsets of long range and super long range cordless radio never arrived.
This was attested by incumbent local officials who confirmed that no such delivery took place.
The Acceptance and Inspection Report was unsigned and undated while the delivery receipt was also not acknowledged by any official of the municipality of Lingig. The Sandiganbayan held that the accused tried to avoid liability by describing the limitations of their participation and “passing the buck” to their other co-defendants.
“(T)he series of acts of the accused and their respective approvals despite the striking irregularities in the documents show that they had the ultimate goal to award the contract to Philflex and approve the payment despite the lack of delivery to the Municipality of Lingig,” the Sandiganbayan said.
