Roderick Paulate found guilty

Last November 25, 2022, former Quezon City councilor and actor Roderick Paulate was found guilty of graft and falsification.

The charges go back to more than a decade ago.

In April 2018, the Ombudsman filed graft and falsification charges against Roderick for allegedly hiring ghost employees while he was serving as Quezon City 2nd District Councilor in 2010.

It was said that he recommended the hiring of 30 contractual employees to the Office of the Vice Mayor. Roderick allegedly conspired with driver and liaison officer Vicente Esquilon Bajamunde. The two falsified the payroll for these fictitious job contractors from July to November 2010, making it seem as if 30 people were being paid.

Within five months, the supposed salary for these ghost employees amounting to P1,109,000 was said to be collected by Vicente after presenting authorization letters signed by Roderick.

Roderick soon after posted bail amounting to P246,000 for one count of graft, one count of falsification by a public officer and eight counts of falsification of public documents, while Vicente posted bail amounting to P220,000 for one count of graft and eight counts of falsification of public documents.

A couple of years before this, Roderick was already found guilty of several anomalies, including falsification of official documents, serious dishonesty, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, and grave misconduct.  It was in January 2016 that he was dismissed from his position and was perpetually disqualified from holding public office.

While it was Vicente and another liaison officer, Flordeliza Alvarez, who claimed the money for the ghost employees, Roderick and then-1st District Rep. Francisco Calalay Jr. were still held liable because they signed endorsement letters and certifications for them.

"Nakakalungkot nga kasi minsan OA ang news," said Roderick then. "Sad to say, maraming humusga na kahit hindi nila naiintindihan ang nangyayari sa akin.”

“Basta, truth will prevail. God is just! He knows the truth,” he added.

In the recent court proceedings, Roderick argued that lack of a birth certificate doesn’t necessarily mean a person doesn’t exist.

This, however, was not found acceptable by the court.

“This may be rebutted by sufficient contrary evidence however, Paulate and Bajamunde have not presented any competent evidence to counter the negative certifications and certificates of no record,” said the court.

According to their personal data sheets, the said employees were residents of Quezon City, yet the Office of the Ombudsman could not locate any of them to verify the information. In addition, the said employees did not have any record in the National Bureau of Investigation Clearance Database. They also found that two of the contractors seemed identical twins based on photos, but their information was different.

“These details may appear trivial, but they cast serious doubt on the genuineness of the PDS and existence of the job contractors when taken with the other pieces of evidences presented by the prosecution,” the court reasoned.

State Auditor Emilda Navarro testified that there were no daily time records for the said employees. However, Roderick’s former Chief of Staff Hubert Fernandez claimed that their area coordinators were the ones who looked for the 30 people from their pool of volunteers.

Roderick testified that the money indeed went to the said personnel. He continued to claim that the charges had political motivation, and that the job contractors and their family members were just scared to come forward.

The case has been going back and forth for years, and again, Roderick and Vicente were found guilty. According to the decision released by the anti-graft’s court Seventh Division last November 25, 2022, Roderick is to be imprisoned for 6 to 8 years for graft and 6 months to 6 years for each count of falsification.

In addition to this, Roderick was also ordered to pay a fine of P1.1 million, an amount equivalent to the sum that was released by the government for fictitious job contract personnel. He was also fined P10,000 for each of the falsification cases.