THE Sandiganbayan has affirmed the conviction of Janet Lim Napoles for bribery in relation to the pork barrel scam, raising her penalty to P79 million from P27 million.
In a resolution dated July 8, a special division composed of five justices voted in favor of the affirmation of the October 2023 conviction of Napoles and former Apec party-list lawmaker Edgar Valdez for nine counts of direct bribery involving the misuse of the Priority Development and Assistance Fund (PDAF) of the lawmaker.
Napoles earlier filed a motion for reconsideration, which seeks the reversal of the Sandiganbayan’s guilty verdict for nine counts of corruption of public officials to which she was sentenced to two years and four months imprisonment for each count, or a total of 21 years, and fine of P27 million.
The anti-graft court noted that P79.04 million was illegally funneled from the lawmakers' pork barrel to bogus non-government organizations controlled by Napoles, such as Masaganang Ani Para sa Magsasaka Foundation Inc. (Mamfi), the Philippine Social Development Foundation Incorporated (PSDFI), and Social Development Program for Farmers Foundation Inc. (SDPFFI).
“While the prosecution did not raise the issue of the lack of imposition of a civil liability, an examination of the court decision shows that the imposition of civil liability was inadvertently not included despite having been warranted by the established facts and evidence in this case,” the Sandiganbayan said.
“The penalty to pay a fine is not equivalent to finding an accused civilly liable for restitution. It is imperative that the courts prescribe the proper penalties when convicting the accused and determine the civil liability to the imposed,” it added.
Napoles and Valdez were cleared in the P57-million plunder case related to the PDAF scam.
The court noted that the civil liability is distinct because it constitutes the actual damages suffered by the government resulting from the unlawful scheme.
“No such controverting evidence relating to the transfer of the public funds to the involved NGOs and to the fact that the PDAF projects in question were ghost or fictitious projects were presented by accused Napoles, as she opted not to present any evidence during the trial. Thus, by way of civil liability, accused Napoles should pay to the Government the total amount of P79.04 million plus interest of six percent per annum reckoned from the finality of this decision until full payment,” the court said.
Valdez was earlier convicted for nine counts of corruption of public officials and nine counts of bribery and was initially sentenced to a jail time of two to six years for each conviction of direct bribery or a minimum of 18 years and a fine worth P26,996,700 and a penalty of special temporary disqualification.
The P26.9 million fine for both Napoles and Valdez was later reduced to P23.99 million in the July 2024 resolution. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)