Zambales town mayor appeals conviction

STA. CRUZ, Zambales, Philippines — Mayor Luisito Marty of this town has asked the Sandiganbayan to reverse its decision convicting him of graft and ususrpation of authority for stopping the operations of two mining firms.

In his motion for reconsideration, Marty said the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he acted with evident bad faith and manifest partiality when he refused to grant business permits to Zambales Diversified Metals Corp. and Zambales Chro-mite Mining Co. Inc. in 2011 despite the firms’ compliance with environmental safety and standards.

In its decision, the Sandiganbayan’s Third Division said  Marty’s memorandum, which prevented the two mining firms from paying their occupation fees as well as his inaction on their business permit applications without any sufficient legal basis and justification “unquestionably” manifested evident bad faith.

Marty was sentenced to a minimum of six years to a maximum of 10 years in prison for graft and four months to six years for usurpation of authority.

“Undue injury to the municipality... was not established as there was no valid tender of payment of the occupation fee on the part of the complainant,” Marty’s motion read.

The mayor claimed he did not abuse his authority when he refused to give permits to the mining firms.

“An accused must be convicted on the basis of the strength of the prosecution and not on the weakness of his defense,” his motion stated.