The Sandiganbayan has allowed the plea of guilt to a lesser offense of a private individual who was co-accused of former mayor Mario Patricio Paraz Barcenas of Carcar, Cebu  in the alleged irregular purchase of P249,000 worth of liquid fertilizer in 2011.

Instead of graft, Marlyn Mendoza Castillo, proprietor of M.M. Castillo General Merchandize, was found guilty of frauds against the public treasury under the Revised Penal Code (RPC).

Castillo was ordered to pay a fine of P5,000.  The anti-graft court did not impose civil liability because the P249,000 paid for 166 liters of fertilizer had been settled by Barcenas and former municipal agriculturist Roque Rellon Sarcauga.

Barcenas and Sarcauga had earlier pleaded guilty to a lesser offense of failure of accountable officer to render accounts, also under RPC.

In granting Castillo's plea to a lesser offense, the anti-graft court said that the offenses of graft and fraud against public treasury share common elements of public office and that the act be performed in the accused public officer's official function.

"The court cannot prod the prosecution to continue prosecuting the case in view of its agreement that the accused be allowed to plea bargain to a lesser offense. The plea bargaining agreement is thus considered approved," the court said.

The 10-page decision was written by Seventh Division Chairperson Associate Justice Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomez-Estoesta with the concurrence of Associate Justices Zaldy V. Trespeses and Georgina Hidalgo.