The Sandiganbayan has convicted the former mayor and three other officials of Bogo City in Cebu for diverting to a private cooperative in 2007 the P20 million intended for the city’s farmers, fishermen, and other members of the marginalized sectors.

Convicted of two counts of graft were then Mayor Celestino “Tining” A. Martinez III and former treasurer Julio S. Ursonal Jr. Found guilty in one count of graft were Councilor Cresencio P. Verdida and former treasurer Rhett E. Minguez.

Martinez and Ursonal were sentenced to a prison term ranging from 12 to 20 years, while Verdida and Minguez were meted out jail terms of six to 10 years.

They were also barred perpetually from holding public office and ordered to indemnify the government of P20 million.

The criminal case against former budget officer Mary Lou Ursal has been archived pending her arrest.

"Corruption reduces the effectiveness of financial assistance programs, as money is 'lost somewhere along the way' and does not reach those who need it or for whom it is intended,” declared the Sandiganbayan in a decision written by Associate Justice Kevin Narce B. Vivero of the court’s sixth division.

Those convicted were charged with violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for diverting the P20 million to the Bogo Municipal Employees Multi-Purpose Cooperative (BMEMPC). Bogo town became a city in June 2007 under Republic Act No. 9390.

The P20 million came from the Department of Agriculture (DA) as part of the Ginintuang Agrikulturang Makamasa (GAM) program.

The Sandiganbayan ruled that Martinez "acted on his own initiative" and without authorization from the Sangguniang Bayan when he made the deal with BMEMPC for the P20 million fund transfer. "As it turned out, he got the lion's share thereof to the tune of P5.5 million,” it said.

There was manifest partiality as charged because Martinez and the other accused were all members of BMEMPC, the court said.

“To add insult to injury, these civil servants even had the gall to declare before this Honorable Court their inane, threadbare excuse that they were not ineligible beneficiaries because they moonlighted as weekend farmers. For them to resort to that defense is preposterous,” the court stressed.

It said the P20 million "was not declared as a donation received from Bogo or as loan payable by its members despite the evidence that the said amount was loaned to the members."

The failure of BMEMPC to declare in its financial statement the fact of receipt of P20 million from Bogo is "reflective of the fact that said cooperative does not have the capacity to implement a project to be funded,” it pointed out.

"The gravamen of the malfeasance imputed against him (and his co-conspirators) pertains to deliberate breach of contract following the release of the P20 million fund to BMEMPC to the prejudice of Bogo's farmers and fisherfolks," the court said.

Associate Justices Sarah Jane T. Fernandez, chairperson of the court’s sixth division, Karl B. Miranda concurred in the decision.