Bulacan judge indicted for direct bribery

A San Ildefonso, Bulacan judge was indicted in the Sandiganbayan yesterday after he was caught red-handed receiving bribe money from a litigant facing falsification charges in his sala.

Indicted was Municipal Trial Court Judge Henry Domingo Llacuna, who was arrested last Monday by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation after he demanded P20,000 from Ildefonso Cuevas, who was being tried in his sala for allegedly falsifying public documents.

NBI assistant director Lolito Utitco said Llacuna has been released after posting the P20,000 bail bond which special prosecutor Antonio Manzano had recommended for his temporary liberty.

The judge was caught in an entrapment operation receiving a San Rafael, Bulacan Rural Bank Inc. check for P10,000 as well as P10,000 in marked money at a restaurant in Baliuag, Bulacan.

Prosecutors of the Office of the Ombudsman alleged that Llacuna demanded money from Cuevas in exchange for a favorable ruling.

In his affidavit, Cuevas said Llacuna approached him last Feb. 7 when his lawyer was not around, asked him what he could do to help and set a meeting with him in the restaurant.

The meeting was originally scheduled on Feb. 12, and then was reset on Feb. 14. The payoff finally happened on Feb. 17 because Cuevas said he had no money at the time.

Cuevas sought the help of the NBI’s Anti-Fraud and Computer Crimes Division, headed by Elfren Meneses, which promptly laid out the entrapment. — With Cecille Suerte Felipe