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4 ex-gov't execs get up to 47 years in prison for pork barrel misuse

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Mike Navallo, ABS-CBN News

<h3>Lawmaker gets away with plea bargain deal</h3>MANILA — Four former executives of the defunct Technology and Livelihood Resource Center (TLRC) will face up to 47 years in prison after the Sandiganbayan convicted them of graft and malversation in connection with the misuse of Priority Development Assistance Funds (PDAF) of former lawmaker Marc Douglas Cagas IV.The anti-graft court’s Third Division on Friday found former TLRC deputy director general Dennis Cunanan, former group manager and legislative liaison officer Maria Rosalinda Lacsamana, former budget officer Consuelo Lilian Espiritu and former chief accountant Marivic Jover guilty of 2 counts of graft, malversation of public funds and malversation of public funds through falsification.Each of them is also fined P5.4 million and all were ordered to jointly return to the government P5.4 million plus legal interests.They were also perpetually disqualified from holding any public office and their retirement or gratuity benefits were forfeited.The case involves a series of transactions in February 2008 whereim Cagas, then the House representative for the first district of Davao del Sur, endorsed to his chosen NGO, the Farmerbusiness Development Corporation (FDC), PDAF funds ranging from P600,000 to P6 million, supposedly for livelihood and development projects.Cunanan, Lacsamana, Jover and Espiritu signed the disbursement vouchers.In convicting the 4 execs of graft, the anti-graft court said the unilateral endorsement of funds to FDC violated procurement and appropriation laws and regulations because FDC was not among the listed implementing agencies of PDAF-funded livelihood projects and the endorsement did not go through bidding nor was it a negotiated procurement.The transfer of funds also violated circulars of the Department of Budget and Management and the Commission on Audit, the court added. <ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/02/23/napoles-lawmaker-acquitted-of-plunder-but-convicted-for-other-crimes">Napoles, lawmaker acquitted of plunder but convicted for other crimes</a></li></ul>FDC, it turned out, also did not also meet the required equity equivalent to 20% of the total project cost and failed to submit financial reports and there were defeciencies in the fund utilization report.In addition, the court found the funds were spent “irregularly and illegally” and were not fully substantiated.“Based on the documentary evidence, testimony of the prosecution&#x27;s witnesses, and admissions of some accused, accused Cagas used his official function as the Congressman of the 1st District of Davao del Sur to directly participate in the implementation of his PDAF- funded livelihood projects by unilaterally selecting FDC as the ‘project partner’ despite the clear and unambiguous special provision in the PDAF Article of the GAA and the GPPB Resolution No. 12-2007,” the court said.“Furthermore, accused Cunanan, Lacsamana, Espiritu, and Jover allowed FDC to participate in the utilization of the PDAF-drawn public funds and the implementation of the spurious PDAF-funded livelihood projects despite apparent violations of applicable laws, rules, and regulations,” it added.In also convicting them of malversation, the Third Division said the accused consented or allowed FDC to “take or misappropriate the PDAF-drawn public funds instead of fully implementing their livelihood projects.”FDC was also found to have presented fabricated documents in the form of falsified liquidation reports. The Sandiganabayan said all 4 conspired with Cagas and they cannot claim “good faith” as their defense.“While the Court views that the accused&#x27;s failure to inquire further before affixing their signature despite apparent inconsistencies in the face of the disbursement vouchers and their supporting documents as negligence on their part, to additionally fix their signatures despite lack of supporting documents only shows gross and inexcusable disregard of the consequences of their acts as approving authorities,” it said.For each of the 2 graft charges, the court imposed a jail term of between 6 years and 1 month to 10 years maximum.For malversation, it imposed imprisonment of between 2 years to 10 years and 1 day while for malversation through falsification, it handed down a longer jail time of between 12 years to 17 years, 4 months and 1 day.Despite the finding of conspiracy, Cagas however will not be serving the same jail sentence since he earlier pleaded guilty to lesser offenses of fraud against public treasury, failure to render accounts and falsification of public documents.He was sentenced to imprisonment of 2 years but the Sandiganbayan later allowed his probation plea. As part of the plea bargain deal approved by the Ombudsman, he paid P13 million in May 2022.All the 4 accused were present in court when the verdict was handed down. At least 2 of the women broke down in tears after the hearing.Four other accused — former project consultant Vanie Semillano, former TLRC director general Antonio Ortiz and private individuals Arnolfo Reyes and Aileen Carrasco have remained at large. The cases against them were ordered archived.<div>RELATED VIDEO</div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lr3XjpAAkms?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><div> </div>

4 ex-gov't execs get up to 47 years in prison for pork barrel misuse

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4 ex-gov't execs get up to 47 years in prison for pork barrel misuse

Mike Navallo,

ABS-CBN News

Published Oct 06, 2023 05:29 PM PHT

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pork barrel scam

Sandiganbayan

Marc Douglas Cagas IV

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