The Sandiganbayan has affirmed the regional trial court's (RTC) decision that convicted of graft a former official of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in Cebu and a private individual over the auction and payment of 26,908 bags of illegally shipped sugar in 1999.
Affirmed was the conviction of Benjamin D. Bongon, former auction and cargo disposal head of BOC in Cebu, and Roger T. Ang, a businessman.
Also affirmed were their six-year jail term and fine of P10.8 million. Bongon was also perpetually disqualified from holding public office.
Their appeal was initially lodged before the Court of Appeals (CA), but it was later transferred to the Sandignabyan because the CA lacked appellate jurisdiction over their case.
Bongon admitted in his motion that the filing of Notice of Appeal before the CA was erroneous, and he begged the anti-graft court's "kind indulgence and consideration" to accommodate his appeal in the interest of justice.
Ang, on the other hand, cited several rulings where the Supreme Court "relaxed the application of technical rules of procedure to serve the broader interest of justice."
Accepting the appeal but denying their arguments to reverse the RTC's decision, the Sandiganbayan said: "The conspiracy between the accused-appellants was duly established by the prosecution and discussed in the assailed decision of the RTC."
Bongon and Ang were charged over the disposition of the 26,908 bags of undeclared sugar that was confiscated by the BOC Cebu in 1999. The perishable cargo was later auctioned off, with Ang's company as the winning bidder.
Ang paid P21 million deposit for the sugar, but he later asked for a P10.86 million refund because his company reportedly received only 12,754 bags from the BOC.
When state prosecutors conducted an investigation, they found out that Ang's company actually got 26,908 bags of sugar instead of the 12,754 bags the company claimed to have received from rhe bureau.