Ex-Surigao del Sur mayor acquitted of graft charge
Published Dec 31, 2019 12:00 am
By Czarina Nicole Ong Ki
Former Tandag City Mayor Alexander Ty Pimentel of Surigao del Sur has been acquitted by the Sandiganbayan Seventh Division of his graft charge involving his refusal to pay the salaries and clothing allowance of a councilor back in 2012 and 2013.
Sandiganbayan (MANILA BULLETIN)
Pimentel was initially slapped with a violation of section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019. When he was still mayor, Pimentel reportedly refused to pay Mario G. Cuartero his salaries, clothing allowance, and bonus as councilor of the city for the period of July 2010 to June 2011, which totals to P485,369.24.
The prosecution said Pimentel refused to pay Cuartero even if the amount is "legally due for services rendered."
Section 3(e) of R.A. 3019 states that it is unlawful to cause "any undue injury to any party, including the government, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence."
In its judgment, the anti-graft court first noted the timeline of events that caused Pimentel to hold Cuartero's salaries. It traced back to the time when Tandag was transitioning from a municipality into a city, which resulted in the city's inability to cover compensation of the increased number of public officials.
Because of this pending settlement of its status, the local government unit still had to operate as a municipality.
On December 21, 2009, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Tandag's conversion to cityhood. But despite that, Tandag received an internal revenue allotment (IRA) for a municipality in 2010.
Cuartero was elected as the 10th councilor on May 2010, and he assumed office on July 1. However, there were some issues as to the status of the ninth and tenth councilors.
In 2011, Tandag once again received an IRA for a municipality. Later, the SC declared on February 15, 2011 that Tandag is officially a city, but the declaration only became executory on June 28.
After that, Cuartero's salaries for the period of July 2011 to December 2011 were paid. In 2012, Tandag finally received the IRA equivalent to that of a city.
On December 17, 2012, the city council passed an ordinance appropriating the amount P970,738.48 for the salaries of Cuartero and the other councilor. However, this was vetoed by Pimentel.
For the prosecution, the exercise of this veto power is "tainted" since the reasons of Pimentel were "untrue or erroneous." For his part, Pimentel said that he relied on the SC decisions, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) memoranda, and Tandag's IRA when he made the veto.
After carefully analyzing all the details of the case, the anti-graft court ruled in favor of the defense. The court said Pimentel was faced with a difficult question of law, and his exercise of his veto power was prompted only by his analysis and interpretation of the various aspects of the situation.
Since the situation involved - whether or not the elected city councilor can be paid his salaries and other emoluments from a municipality's budget - still had to be settled by the SC during the time in question, the Sandiganbayan said it found no fault in Pimentel's exercise of his veto powers.
"In fact, in the case hand, it is premature to say that Pimentel made a judgmental error since the correctness or erroneousness of the non-payment of Cuartero's salaries and other monetary claims...has yet to be settled; thereby giving this Court more reason to hand down a ruling favorable to Pimentel who was unwillingly placed in the middle of a curious, novel, and difficult legal state of affairs," the judgment read.
"The way this Court sees it, Pimentel found himself in the midst of a multi-faceted situation which he carefully studied and where he exerted effort to arrive at what appeared to him as the 'right' and 'legal' decision at that time," it added.
The 32-page judgment was penned by Associate Justice Georgina Hidalgo with the concurrence of Chairperson Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomez-Estoesta and Associate Justice Zaldy Trespeses.
Sandiganbayan (MANILA BULLETIN)
Pimentel was initially slapped with a violation of section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019. When he was still mayor, Pimentel reportedly refused to pay Mario G. Cuartero his salaries, clothing allowance, and bonus as councilor of the city for the period of July 2010 to June 2011, which totals to P485,369.24.
The prosecution said Pimentel refused to pay Cuartero even if the amount is "legally due for services rendered."
Section 3(e) of R.A. 3019 states that it is unlawful to cause "any undue injury to any party, including the government, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence."
In its judgment, the anti-graft court first noted the timeline of events that caused Pimentel to hold Cuartero's salaries. It traced back to the time when Tandag was transitioning from a municipality into a city, which resulted in the city's inability to cover compensation of the increased number of public officials.
Because of this pending settlement of its status, the local government unit still had to operate as a municipality.
On December 21, 2009, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Tandag's conversion to cityhood. But despite that, Tandag received an internal revenue allotment (IRA) for a municipality in 2010.
Cuartero was elected as the 10th councilor on May 2010, and he assumed office on July 1. However, there were some issues as to the status of the ninth and tenth councilors.
In 2011, Tandag once again received an IRA for a municipality. Later, the SC declared on February 15, 2011 that Tandag is officially a city, but the declaration only became executory on June 28.
After that, Cuartero's salaries for the period of July 2011 to December 2011 were paid. In 2012, Tandag finally received the IRA equivalent to that of a city.
On December 17, 2012, the city council passed an ordinance appropriating the amount P970,738.48 for the salaries of Cuartero and the other councilor. However, this was vetoed by Pimentel.
For the prosecution, the exercise of this veto power is "tainted" since the reasons of Pimentel were "untrue or erroneous." For his part, Pimentel said that he relied on the SC decisions, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) memoranda, and Tandag's IRA when he made the veto.
After carefully analyzing all the details of the case, the anti-graft court ruled in favor of the defense. The court said Pimentel was faced with a difficult question of law, and his exercise of his veto power was prompted only by his analysis and interpretation of the various aspects of the situation.
Since the situation involved - whether or not the elected city councilor can be paid his salaries and other emoluments from a municipality's budget - still had to be settled by the SC during the time in question, the Sandiganbayan said it found no fault in Pimentel's exercise of his veto powers.
"In fact, in the case hand, it is premature to say that Pimentel made a judgmental error since the correctness or erroneousness of the non-payment of Cuartero's salaries and other monetary claims...has yet to be settled; thereby giving this Court more reason to hand down a ruling favorable to Pimentel who was unwillingly placed in the middle of a curious, novel, and difficult legal state of affairs," the judgment read.
"The way this Court sees it, Pimentel found himself in the midst of a multi-faceted situation which he carefully studied and where he exerted effort to arrive at what appeared to him as the 'right' and 'legal' decision at that time," it added.
The 32-page judgment was penned by Associate Justice Georgina Hidalgo with the concurrence of Chairperson Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomez-Estoesta and Associate Justice Zaldy Trespeses.