Sandiganbayan convicts 2 ex-mayors of graft

Two former municipal mayors had been convicted in their separate graft cases by the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court. The two — Marius Ladio (Tayug, Pangasinan) and Khan Isnaji (Indanan, Sulu) — were fined and sentenced to jail terms, and barred from holding public office again. Ladio was found guilty of malversation of public funds after failing to account for the P500,000 that was advanced to him in 2001 as a supposed 10-year upfront lease for a private lot occupied by the local government. The Sandiganbayan Second Division meted Ladio 10 to 18 years imprisonment and fined him P500,000. He was also ordered to pay damages to the municipal government in the sum of P500,000 with interest until full payment. Ladio, in his defense, said the amount was a reimbursement for his personal funds that he used to pay for scholarships of poor students, repair of barangay roads, and purchase of medicines for local beneficiaries — a claim junked by the Sandiganbayan. “Even if he used the amount of P500,000 for public purposes, he would still be held responsible for it as there was no ordinance or law appropriating such amount for scholarship grants and/or buying of medicines and repair of barangay/municipal roads. Hence, his defense is not acceptable," the ruling said. The anti-graft court, however, acquitted Ladio’s co-accused, revenue collection clerk I Emiliana C. Mabito, noting that Ladio’s acknowledgment that he received the amount had disproved the allegation that Mabito converted the money for her personal benefit. Isnaji, on the other hand, was convicted of violating the Government Service Insurance System Act of 1997 for the delay in the remittance of contributions paid by municipal employees for the months of July, August, October, November and December in 2001. Also convicted was then municipal accountant Rajik J. Hamsan. Isnaji and Hamsan were sentenced to one-year jail terms and fined P10,000 each. The court also imposed additional penalties against both accused of perpetual disqualification from holding public office and from practicing any profession licensed by the government. They were also ordered to pay the cost of the trials. A third defendant, former municipal treasurer Wadja A. Udda, remains at large, prompting the court to order the case against him archived until he is arrested. The case was filed based on a criminal complaint initiated by Isnaji’s own vice mayor, Julhatab J. Talib. According to the Sandiganbayan, the delay in remitting the GSIS contributions was enough to hold the defendants criminally liable even in the absence of any proof of existence that the funds were intentionally withheld. “While the accused may not have consciously intended to commit a crime; but they did intend to commit the punished act of delaying the remittance of the subject GSIS premiums from the time they become due and demandable, the commission of such delay, is the crime itself, and therefore, is sufficient to convict them," the court said. - KBK, GMA News