THE SANDIGANBAYAN has acquitted a former Surigao del Sur mayor of corruption charges arising from projects for the rehabilitation of a public school in his town 25 years ago.
In a 14-page decision and recently uploaded online, the anti-graft court's Second Division acquitted former Tagbina, Surigao del Sur mayor Rufo C. Pabelonia, 69, of the violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019).
Pabelonia was the Officer-in-Charge mayor from March 1986 shortly after the EDSA revolution until November 1987 when he resigned to campaign for the elections which he lost.
During his time as OIC mayor, the municipality undertook two projects -- the rehabilitation and repair of the Tagbina Central Elementary School and the construction of a toilet with a septic tank in the school. He approved the purchase of construction materials with a total of PHP62,080 for the two projects which were reported completed.
An audit inspection by the Commission on Audit (COA) found that some of the materials purchased were not used in the construction projects with a variance of PHP22,059 and that despite the report of 100 percent completion it was unfinished.
The anti-graft court noted that "the prosecution was not able to present proof other than the documents signed by Pabelonia."
"It was not shown that the approval and implementation by the accused of the projects were moved by a fraudulent purpose or was conscious wrongdoing. It was also shown that when the projects were finished Pabelonia already resigned as the OIC mayor," it said. ( Benjamin Pulta)
No comments:
Post a Comment