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Friday, August 31, 2007
Parañaque ex-mayor, 3 others guilty of graft raps
MANILA-- The Sandiganbayan sentenced Thursday comedian and former Parañaque City mayor Joey Marquez and three others to 50 years imprisonment after they were found guilty of five counts of graft in connection with the alleged overpriced "walis tingting (broomstick)" purchased by the City Government from 1996 to 1997.
The Sandiganbayan sentenced Thursday comedian and former Parañaque City mayor Joey Marquez and three others to 50 years imprisonment after they found guilty in the procurement of alleged overpriced "walis tingting (broomstick)" from 1996 to 1997.
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The three are former city treasurer Silvestre de Leon, former general services officer Ofelia Caunan and former city accountant Marilou Tanael.
De Leon died before Thursday's promulgation and is presently interred in Parañaque City, an unconfirmed report reaching the court said.
The court also ordered the convicted defendants to reimburse the government the amount of P462,708 corresponding to the overpricing as determined by auditors from the Commission on Audit (COA).
The court likewise directed the graft convicts to post additional cash bonds of P150,000 each on top of their original P90,000 bail bonds, for their temporary liberty pending resolution of appeals.
The decision was penned by Associate Justice Jose Hernandez and concurred in by Associate Justices Gregory Ong and Rodolfo Ponferrada of the anti-graft court's Fourth Division.
The former Parañaque mayor said he will seek reconsideration of the guilty verdict claiming some findings of the COA favorable to their case were ignored by the court.
In convicting the four accused, the court upheld the contention of Director Cornelio Somido and Prosecutor Karen Funelas, both of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, that they caused undue injury to the government when they authorized the purchase of overpriced broomsticks between January 1996 and September 1997.
The court held that the five purchase contracts signed by the accused violated government guidelines set by the COA, and caused damage to the City Government.
The prosecutors hammered on the absence of public bidding despite the fact that there was several purchase contracts entered into with Zaro Trading.
The transactions involved acquisition of 31,334 pieces of "extra-sized" broomsticks at P15 each and another 24,098 pieces of "extra large" broomsticks at P25 each.
The COA said the small broomsticks were overpriced by P4 each and cost of the big ones were padded by P14 each based on pricelists obtained from the adjoining municipality (now city) of Las Piñas for the same items.
"The court cannot ignore the obvious truth displayed by the (prosecution) evidence. There is no evidence on record that the accused attempted to conduct public bidding," the court said.
The Sandiganbayan, meanwhile, acquitted three of Marquez's other co-accused- former budget officer Flocerfida Babida, Ailyn Romea and Antonio Razo - of the charges for insufficiency of evidence against them. (Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (August 31, 2007 issue)
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