MANILA -- The Sandiganbayan 6th Division has denied the motion for reconsideration filed by National Agribusiness Corporation (NABCOR) staff Encarnita Munsod, who was found guilty of 2 counts of graft and two counts of malversation of public funds in connection with the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.

Munsod was the co-accused of former Nueva Ecija 4th District Rep. Rodolfo Antonino and former Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap when the Office of the Ombudsman filed the cases in 2017.

Antonino was acquitted by the court on June 1, 2023 while the cases against Yap were dismissed in 2018, both on the basis of inordinate delay in the preliminary investigation done by the Ombudsman.

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In Munsod's motion, she said that the inordinate delay cited by Antonino and Yap, as well other accused individuals, should also benefit her case.

In the resolution of the court promulgated on August 7, 2023, however, her motion was denied for lack of merit.

“This is too little, too late,” the court said in the resolution penned by Associate Justice Kevin Narce Vivero, with the concurrence of Division Chairperson Sarah Jane Fernandez and Associate Justice Bayani Jacinto.

In her motion, Munsod also noted that she was only on her probationary period as human resources manager in the agency, as she stressed she did not commit conspiracy with her co-accused individuals.

Munsod also stated that while she affixed her signatures on disbursement vouchers, it was only because she was exercising her ministerial function.

But the court said: “She should have heeded the caveat: Don’t trust the person, trust the system."

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