Janet Lim-Napoles
THE Sandiganbayan Special Third Division has delivered another blow to Janet Lim Napoles, sentencing her to reclusion perpetua – potentially up to 80 years in prison – for two counts of malversation of public funds.
This latest conviction is tied to the illegal use of former Benguet Rep. Samuel Dangwa’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
In a 165-page decision released on December 5, the anti-graft court found Napoles and several others guilty of malversation of public funds, amounting to ₱19 million. The law stipulates that individuals involved in malversation of public funds exceeding ₱8,800,000 may be sentenced to reclusion perpetua, which carries a prison term ranging from 20 years and one day to 40 years, with a possible extension to 80 years.
The cases against Dangwa and three others were dismissed due to their deaths. In one case involving ₱10 million worth of Dangwa’s PDAF, Dennis Cunanan, former deputy director of the state-run Technology Resource Center (TRC), and Mylene Encarnacion, president of the Countrywide Agri and Rural Economic Development (CARED) Foundation, Inc., were also convicted alongside Napoles.
The anti-graft court also perpetually disqualified Cunanan from holding any public office and imposed a ₱10 million fine on the three accused. They were also ordered to return and reimburse the ₱10 million to the government through the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr), which shall earn legal interest at the rate of 6% per annum from the finality of the decision until fully paid.
For the malversation case involving ₱9 million, the anti-graft court convicted Napoles and former National Livelihood Development Corporation (NLDC) president Gondelina Amata and imposed a penalty of reclusion perpetua. The Sandiganbayan also barred Amata from holding any public office and imposed a ₱9 million fine on both Amata and Napoles. They were held liable, jointly and severally, to return the ₱9 million to the BTr, which shall earn legal interest at the rate of 6% per year until fully paid.
In other malversation cases, Napoles and several other accused were sentenced to reclusion temporal (up to 20 years imprisonment) and prision mayor (up to 12 years in prison). The anti-graft court acquitted other accused individuals in the other cases as the prosecution failed to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. This latest conviction adds to Napoles’ previous sentence of reclusion perpetua in 2018 for plunder.
