By Czarina Nicole Ong-Ki Libacao, Aklan Vice Mayor Charito Inventado Navarosa has been acquitted of his unlawful appointment charge before the Sandiganbayan Second Division due to the failure of the prosecution to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Navarosa was initially accused of violating Article 244 of the Revised Penal Code for the reportedly unlawful appointment of Paterno Turang Jr. as college administrator of the Libacao College of Science and Technology on July 1, 2011 despite his lack of legal qualification. Back then, Navarosa was still mayor of Libacao. Navarosa appointed Turang as the college administrator in three instances, so the anti-graft court sought to determine if any or all of the three instances qualified as an appointment to a public office. While the position "is invested with some portion of the sovereign functions of the government," the Sandiganbayan ruled that the appointment of Turang, either as job order or consultant, did not qualify him as a public officer occupying a public office. "A 'consultant' has been defined as one who provides professional advice on matters within the field of his special knowledge or training," the decision read. "It held that there is no employer-employee relationship. Thus, consultancy services are not considered government service." Turang's qualifications, on the other hand, were indeed found lacking by the court. But the court still found that Navarosa believed in good faith, and merely relied on the advice of his executive assistant that there was no legal impediment as to the appointment of Turang. "It falls upon the prosecution to discharge the burden of proving that accused Navarosa acted in bad faith," the decision read. "While the prosecution presented several pieces of documentary evidence to prove that Turang Jr. is not qualified for the position, there is no proof inter alia that accused Navarosa knew of the disqualification at the time of the appointment." The 25-page decision was penned Associate Justice Lorifel Pahimna with the concurrence of Chairperson Oscar Herrera Jr. and Associate Justice Michael Frederick Musngi.