By Czarina Nicole Ong-Ki Former Laayan Mayor Cecilia Seares-Luna of Abra decided to enter a guilty plea to her graft charges in relation to her anomalous Statement of Assets Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) after entering into a plea bargain with the prosecution. She was sentenced to pay a fine of P5,000 for each of the cases or a total amount of P40,000. Luna was initially charged with eight counts of Section 7 of R.A. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and another eight counts of perjury under Article 183 of the Revised Penal Code due to her failure to disclose certain assets and properties in her SALN for the years 1998 to 2005. She initially entered a not guilty plea, but then decided to enter into a plea bargaining agreement with the prosecution. In a resolution dated March 27, 2019, the anti-graft court allowed their proposed terms of withdrawing the perjury charges if Luna pleads guilty to the graft charges. During her re-arraignment, Luna finally entered a guilty plea to her remaining charges. "When queried, the accused and her counsel informed the court that the accused fully understood the nature and consequences of her entering a plea of guilty to the charges in the Informations, the accused is deemed to have admitted all the material facts alleged therein," the court ruled. The seven-page decision was penned by Chairperson Sarah Jane Fernandez with the concurrence of Associate Justices Karl Miranda and Kevin Narce Vivero.