The Sandiganbayan has convicted two former officials of the now-defunct Technology Resource Center (TRC) of graft and malversation of public funds involving the P20.06 million priority development assistance fund (PDAF) of former Isabela 4th District Rep. Anthony Castillo Miranda.
Convicted by the court’s second division were former TRC legislative liaison officer Belina A. Concepcion and group manager Maria Rosalinda M. Lacsamana.
Also convicted was private individual Edison I. Sabio who was the chairman of Aksyon Makamasa Foundation, Inc. (AMFI).
They were sentenced to a prison term of six years for graft and 12 years for malversation.
Concepcion was ordered to pay of P9.5 million and civil liability of P19 million. Lacsamana, on the other hand, was ordered to pay a P10.56 million fine and civil liability of P21.12 million.
Sabio, who was found guilty of all four charges, was ordered to pay a fine of P20.06 million and civil liability of P40.12 million.
In its decision, the anti-graft court acquitted former TRC deputy director general Dennis Lacson Cunanan, group manager Francisco Baldoza Figura, and chief accountant Marivic Villaluz Jover.
The criminal cases against Miranda and former TRC director general Antonio Y. Ortiz have been ordered archived pending their arrest or voluntary surrender.
The prosecution said that former legislator Miranda transferred to AMFI his P20.06 million PDAF with TRC as a catalyst.
The charges also said that Miranda selected his own NGO as the "project partner" for implementing livelihood projects in his own district even without undergoing public bidding.
"The Court therefore holds that the wanton disregard displayed by accused public officers (particularly, Lacsamana and Concepcion) in allowing such transaction to flourish despite the requirements under the law, the regulations, and the Memoranda of Agreement, constitutes negligence which, together with Sabio's telling acts prior to and after the release of such funds to AMFI, collectively paved the way for such misappropriation to be consummated," the Sandiganbayan ruled.
The decision was written by Second Division Chairperson Oscar C. Herrera Jr. with the concurrence of Associate Justices Michael Frederick L. Musngi, Efren N. De La Cruz, and Geraldine Faith A. Econg. Associate Justice Bayani H. Jacinto dissented.
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