Court acquits Barugo town mayor of malversation raps

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines  — Judge Lauro Francisco of the Regional Trial Court-Branch 36 in this city had ordered the acquittal of Mayor Alden Avestruz of Barugo town in Leyte from charges of 11 counts of malversation of public funds.

Francisco, in an eight-page decision, said the prosecution failed to establish that the mayor had committed the crimes he was indicted with.

The judge said that, for a crime of malversation to be committed, the following elements have to be satisfied, under Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code: 1) the offender is a public official; 2) the offender is in control or in custody of the public funds; 3) the questioned funds are public; and 4) he or she misappropriated the funds.

Francisco said the first three elements were present in the Avestruz case, but the last one was not established or “missing,” thus, pursuant to the constitutional presumption of innocence and if the evidence is insufficient to prove the guild of the accused, an acquittal should be entitled to the accused.

The case was filed by a town councilor filed against Avestruz, accusing the latter for malversation of public funds sometime in 2001 until 2004 when he was still vice mayor of Barugo, involving the amount of P60,000 that Avestruz allegedly used for travelling expenses.

Avestruz, after his acquittal, insisted he never misused public funds because he already liquidated this money years back.

The mayor said he considered this case as politically motivated, considering that the accuser, currently an elected official of the town, is now running for mayor against Avestruz’ wife Rosario in the 2016 elections. (FREEMAN)