The Sandiganbayan has convicted former mayor Apolinaria H. Balistoy of Cortes town in Bohol of criminal charges in connection with the fraudulent use of the municipality’s P105,000 training funds in 2010.
The anti-graft court said that while Balistoy insisted that she attended the training, the prosecution’s evidence successfully proved that she actually did not.
Balistoy was sentenced to six to eight years in jail for violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, with perpetual disqualification from holding public office. She was also ordered to indemnify the municipality of Cortes in the amount of P105,000.
For her conviction under Article 171 (falsification) of the Revised Penal Code (RPC), Balistoy was sentenced to four to 10 years imprisonment and was ordered to pay a fine of P5,000.
She was also sentenced to four months to six years for each of her convictions on five counts of Article 217 in relation to Article 172 (malversation of public funds through use of falsified documents) of the RPC and was ordered to pay a fine of P105,000.
However, the Sandiganbayan acquitted her co-accused, Executive Director of Asian Women's Network on Gender and Development (AWNGAD) Daphne D. Roxas, for failure of the prosecution to prove her guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
The cases against Balistoy arose from the disbursement of P105,000 public funds as reimbursement for expenses incurred for her and her son's attendance in Modules 1 to 4 of Trainings on Local Environment Governance and the Barangay E-Agri Training from May to October 2010.
The prosecution alleged and the anti-graft court agreed that Balistoy took public funds by falsifying Official Receipts and Certificates of Attendance as well as other liquidation documents by making it appear that they attended and completed the four module trainings and Barangay E-Agri Training.
"In sum, accused Balistoy is found guilty of all the cases filed against her. Sufficient opportunity was given to her to defend her cases and present evidence to refute the allegations against her but she failed to do so and even jumped bail," the court said.
"It was shown beyond reasonable doubt that Balistoy used fraudulent and incomplete documents to reimburse for expenses of trainings and seminars thereby making it appear that she participated when in fact she did not," it added.
The 43-page decision was written by Fourth Division Chairperson Michael Frederick L. Musngi with the concurrence of Associate Justices Lorifel L. Pahimna and Bayani H. Jacinto.