The Sandiganbayan has acquitted a former barangay (village) chairman of Tacras in Narra, Palawan in two malversation of public property cases.

In a decision issued last June 16, the anti-graft court reversed the ruling of the regional trial court (RTC) which convicted Joel B. Bito-onon and sentenced him to a prison term ranging from two to six years for each count of malversation. The RTC, however, acquitted Bito-onon on two graft charges filed against him.

In acquitting Bito-onon, the Sandiganbayan said the prosecution “absolutely failed” to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Bito-onon was charged in connection with the loss of the parts of two public vehicles – a multicab worth P150,000 and a Kia Besta ambulance worth P500,000 between 2007 and 2010.

With his conviction by the trial court of malversation of public property, Bito-onon appealed before the Sandiganbayan.

He told the anti-graft court that there was absence of several elements in the charges of malversation of public property filed against him.

The Sandiganbayan agreed with Bito-onon as it ruled that there was no evidence to establish that he appropriated, took, misappropriated, or consented or through abandonment or negligence, permitted another person to take the parts of the vehicles in question.

At the same time, the court said that the issue of the alleged missing parts in this case has not been properly established. The court could not also give weight to the integrity and reliability of the inspection reports.

The issue of the alleged missing parts has not been indubitably established, given the serious questions as to the regularity, correctness, and accuracy of the inspections, as well as the integrity and reliability of the corresponding inspection reports, it also said.

The 34-page decision was written by Associate Justice Maryann E. Corpus-Manalac with the concurrence of Fifth Division Chairperson Associate Justice Zaldy V. Trespeses and Associate Justice Gener M. Gito.