Sandigan hears appeal of 2 Mindoro lawmakers convicted of graft

MANILA, Philippines – The Sandiganbayan is set to hear today the appeals of Oriental Mindoro Reps. Rodolfo Valencia and Alfonso Umali Jr. who were convicted of graft for misusing public funds worth P2.5 million when they were provincial executives 15 years ago.

The Fourth Division of the anti-graft court, chaired by Associate Justice Gregory Ong, has set the hearing at 8:30 a.m. upon the request of lawyers of the two lawmakers to resolve their motion for reconsideration and another petition to lift the bench warrants issued against them by the court for ignoring the promulgation of their case last Tuesday.

Sandiganbayan Sheriff Ed Urieta confirmed that the Fourth Division issued warrants of arrest against Valencia, congressman of the First District of Oriental Mindoro, and Umali, representative of the province’s Second District.

Urieta said that if the two convicted lawmakers appear before the court in today’s hearing, “we will consider that as surrender.”

“But if they do not show up and send only their lawyers, we will wait for further order from the court,” he said.

A Sandiganbayan source said the sheriff of the anti-graft court has tapped the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the National Bureau of Investigation to serve the arrest warrants against Valencia and Umali.

The source said agents of the CIDG regional office in Mindoro tried to serve the arrest warrants on the two congressmen in their given addresses in Mindoro and Makati City.

The anti-graft court on Tuesday sentenced the two incumbent congressmen to imprisonment of up to 10 years and perpetual disqualification from holding public office after finding them guilty of graft.

In a 29-page decision penned by Associate Justice Jose Hernandez, the anti-graft court said Valencia and Umali conspired with three other former provincial officials in violating Sections 3 (e) and 3 (g) of Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) when they forged a loan contract with an engineer that served a private purpose.

Engr. Alfredo Atienza, recipient of the loan grant, was also convicted of graft by the Sandiganbayan and sentenced to suffer the same penalty imposed on the two lawmakers.

The court ruled that the loan granted by Valencia and Umali, then governor and provincial administrator, to Atienza for the repair, operations, and maintenance of the ferryboat M/V Ace, which intended to ply the route of Calapan, Oriental Mindoro to Batangas and vice versa, was “grossly and manifestly disadvantageous to the government.”

“The credit agreement between the provincial government of Oriental Mindoro and accused Atienza is undoubtedly not for a public purpose. The contract speaks for itself. The stated purpose for the use of the amount was solely to finance the cost of repair, operation and maintenance of the latter’s vessel; this purpose cannot be classified as one for public purpose,” stated the anti-graft court.

The Fourth Division further explained: “To apply government funds for the use of a private individual is a brazen violation of a prohibition mandated by law, that public funds shall not be applied to private purposes.”

The accused raised good faith in granting the loan for their defense, saying they only committed “an error or mistake on a difficult question of law.”

This argument, however, was junked by the court, which ruled that the use of public funds for private purpose in the case was “unmistakable.”

The court said the loan agreement was simply illegal and there was conspiracy among the accused to try to conceal its unlawfulness.