Tuburan official sentenced to ten years in jail for graft

The municipal planning officer of Tuburan town has been found guilty of graft and was sentenced to ten years imprisonment.

Regional Trial Court Judge Geraldine Faith Econg ruled that Vicente Bornia, Jr. was guilty of violating Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, for collecting two sets of salaries sometime in August 1994.

Econg imposed upon Bornia the penalty of a minimum imprisonment of six years up to a maximum ten years, and a lifetime disqualification from holding public office.

The case started when Bornia was found collecting his salary as laborer of the Cebu Provincial Capitol even if he was already receiving salary as municipal planning officer of Tuburan.

On August 1994, Bornia collected P14, 245.73 for his salary of his work in Tuburan but, at the same time, he also collected P1,719.80 for his salary at the Capitol where he worked as laborer before his Tuburan appointment.

Bornia admitted that he collected the money from the Capitol but argued that it was not done in bad faith because he thought it was just a salary differential out of his previous work.

He said a former co-worker from the Capitol told him beforehand that the salary differential was already available for release and it was the basis of collecting the money from the disbursing officer.

Bornia added that he did not expect his salary for that month was included because he did not submit any time record.

When he learned about the complaint filed against him at the Ombudsman-Visayas, where he was also found guilty of simple misconduct, Bornia said he even refunded the amount he received from the Capitol.

The court however ruled that the evidence was strong against Bornia for violating the anti-graft law.

Econg said that returning the amount could not be accepted as his defense because he did it only years after and only when he found that a complaint was already filed against him.

Besides, the refund of a wrongly taken money is not among those enumerated in Article 89 of the Revised Penal Code that would totally extinguish criminal liability of a person. - Fred P. Languido