The Sandiganbayan has convicted former mayor Constantino Bernardo Navarro IV of Del Carmen town in Surigao del Norte for delay in the liquidation of the P3 million intelligence funds he took from the municipality in two tranches in 2010.

Since the prosecution allowed Navarro to plead guilty to a lesser offense under Section 89 of Presidential Decree No. 1445, the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines, and considering that he had settled his accountability, the anti-graft court imposed fine of P1,000 in each of the two cases.

Navarro was originally charged with two counts of violations of Article 218 of the Revised Penal Code for failure to render accounts in the P750,000 intelligence fund he got on Jan. 7, 2010 and P2,250,000 he took on March 18, 2010.  

When Navarro's cases were heard last Sept. 25, the prosecution and the Sandiganbayan allowed him to withdraw his plea of not guilty to the original charges and accepted his plea of guilty to a lesser offense under PD 1445.  

Section 89 of PD 1445 mandates the liquidation of a cash advance as soon as the purpose had been served, and no additional cash advance should be allowed until the previous amount had been liquidated.

"According to the prosecution, the civil liability in these cases has already been settled. The Court hereby authorizes the release to accused Navarro of the cash deposited as bail for his provisional liberty less the amount of P2,000 which shall be applied to the payment of fine imposed upon him conformably with Section 14, Rule 114 of the Revised Penal Code," the court said.

Fourth Division Chairperson and Associate Justice Michael Frederick L. Musngi wrote the three-page decision with the concurrence of Associate Justices Lorifel L. Pahimna and Bernelito R. Fernandez.