Former Quezon City councilor Dante M. De Guzman has been convicted by the Sandiganbayan of four counts of graft for his failure to distribute P7.98 million worth of relief goods to his constituents in 2008 and 2009.
De Guzman was sentenced to six to eight years imprisonment for each of the four graft cases and was ordered to return to the city government P6.41 million as civil liability.
However, the anti-graft court acquitted him of four cases of malversation of public funds and four cases of falsification charges for failure of the prosecution to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
The charges arose from the irregular purchases of 141 custom-design tents worth P3,489,750, a total of 1,177 kiddie raincoats and 1,177 rain boots worth P994,565; food supplies worth P352,986.07; and sports supplies worth P2,791,260.40 2008 and 2009.
The prosecution said that while the purchased items were received for distribution to various barangays (villages) in Quezon City's District III, the goods did not reach the intended beneficiaries.
The Sandiganbayan found that De Guzman indeed received the procured items but failed to distribute these properly. "Here, the Distribution Lists for the subject items all indicate that the items were received by the listed area coordinators for the different barangays in District III, Quezon City. However, the evidence on record shows that no items were in fact received by the said area coordinators," the court said.
It pointed out that while De Guzman was not expected to personally distribute each of the purchased items to the intended beneficiaries, he was still duty-bound to ensure that these were delivered since he made the purchases for his constituents.
"Accused De Guzman's failure to cause the distribution of the subject items and seeming lack of concern about them shows his indifference to consequences as other persons may be affected," the court pointed out.
On De Guzman's acquittal on the other charges, the court said the prosecution failed to prove how he reportedly falsified documents that contained the names of coordinators who received the procured goods.
It also said the prosecution failed to prove how De Guzman converted the items for distribution to his personal use or how he allowed another person to do the same, so the malversation charges could not stand.
The 104-page decision dated April 30, 2024 was written by Sixth Division Chairperson Associate Justice Sarah Jane T. Fernandez with the concurrence of Associate Justices Karl B. Miranda and Kevin Narce B. Vivero.