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Ex-DA chief Alcala acquitted in P13.5 million graft case involving funds for farmers

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Adrian Ayalin, ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA — The Sandiganayan 6th Division has acquitted former Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala in his P13.5 million graft case involving government funds given to a non-eligible farmers&#x27; foundation.</p><p>In the decision of the court promulgated on August 23, 2023, Alcala was cleared for the failure of the prosecution to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.</p><p>In the information filed by the Ombudsman in 2018, Alcala was accused of conspiring with his then head executive assistant Laureano Arnulfo Mañalac, who was also found to be an incorporator of the Isa Akong Magsasaka Foundation, Inc. (IAMFI) which received the amount.</p><p>The prosecution insisted during the trial that Alcala should be held liable because he had accredited the IAMFI as a development partner of the Department of Agriculture.</p><p>The prosecution also noted that the IAMFI submitted unauthenticated articles of incorporation together with its application for accreditation.</p><p>“The court, however, is compelled on reasonable doubt grounds to acquit Alcala of the crime as he claims to have relied on multiple layers of review by his subordinates,” the court said in the decision penned by Associate Justice Karl Miranda, with the concurrence of Division Chairperson Sarah Jane Fernandez and Associate Justice Kevin Narce Vivero.</p><div><strong>GUILTY</strong></div><p>The court however found Mañalac guilty and sentenced him to suffer 6 to 10 years of imprisonment.</p><p>Mañalac was also ordered to return the amount of P13.5 million which represented the amount paid to IAMFI for the construction of Quezon Corn Trading and Processing Center.</p><p>&quot;Unfortunately for the small farmers and fishermen, and the nation itself, in this criminal case, the beneficiary of the Agri-Pinoy Trading Center Program turned out not to be a farmers’/fisherfolks’ cooperative or association, but the family of the very person who was supposed to guard the gates and make sure that only qualified cooperatives and associations were to be granted scarce government funding,&quot; the court said.</p><p>&quot;There is a term in the vernacular for such a person: bantay salakay,&quot; it added.</p><div><strong>FROM THE ARCHIVES</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZwlxNObLt08?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The Sandiganbayan has acquitted former Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala in his P13.5 million graft case.

Ex-DA chief Alcala acquitted in P13.5 million graft case involving funds for farmers

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Ex-DA chief Alcala acquitted in P13.5 million graft case involving funds for farmers

Adrian Ayalin,

ABS-CBN News

Published August 24, 2023 04:43 PM PHT

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Proceso Alcala

Sandiganbayan

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