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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Ex-DOTC official acquitted in 'ghost' purchase of P5.9-M cellphones

Ex-DOTC official acquitted in 'ghost' purchase of P5.9-M cellphones

Published Sep 19, 2025 02:41 pm
The Sandiganbayan has acquitted former technical inspector Danilo M. De La Rosa of the Department of Transport and Communication (DOTC) of his two criminal charges on the reported ghost purchase of P5.9 million cellular telephones in 2005.
De La Rosa was the co-accused of former Iloilo 2nd District Rep. Judy J. Syjuco in the charges for violations of Section 3(e) of R.A. 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and Article 217 in relation to Articles 171 and 48 of the Revised Penal Code on malversation of public funds through falsification.
The charges arose from the purchase of 1,582 units of Nokia 1100 phones worth P5,964,859.99 for Region VI allegedly without the conduct of public bidding.
The prosecution alleged that even if no actual delivery was made, the supplier, West Island Beverages Distributor, still received the payment.
Syjuco earlier entered into a plea bargaining agreement with the prosecution and she was found guilty of the crimes of frauds against public treasury instead of graft and malversation.
Only the case against Dela Rosa remained unresolved as he was at large.
After submitting himself to the jurisdiction of the anti-graft court, the resolution of the charges started.
In Dela Rosa’s case, the court found that the prosecution's evidence failed to sufficiently show that he acted with evident bad faith, manifest partiality, and gross inexcusable negligence.
It said there was no undue injury to the government caused by Dela Rosa as the delivery of the cell phones to the Office of the Municipal Mayor of Sta. Barbara, Iloilo was established by the prosecution.
As for the crime of malversation through Falsification, the court said that the charge had to fail against Dela Rosa as the prosecution's own evidence sufficiently established the purchase and delivery of the cell phones.
"This finding effectively disproves the prosecution's assertion that the transaction in question was a 'ghost' purchase and delivery," the court said.
The 34-page resolution dated Sept. 5, 2025 was written by Associate Justice Ronald B. Moreno with the concurrence of Associate Justices Edgardo M. Caldona and Maryann E. Corpus-Manalac.
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