Sandiganbayan denies ex-Kalinga mayor, wife’s bid to reverse graft conviction

MANILA, Philippines – The Sandiganbayan has denied the motion for reconsideration filed by a former Kalinga town mayor and his wife, in relation to a recent graft and bribery conviction.

According to the Seventh Division, the motions —  including a separate motion for voluntary inhibition of the Division justices — of ex-Tabuk mayor Camilo Lammawin Jr. and wife Salud Imatong Lammawin were denied for lack of merit.

Both accuse that the justices showed bias and had intentions of convicting them.

“Here, accused spouses argue that the Justices of the Seventh Decision are biased since ‘[they] believe that the Honorable Justices of the Seventh Division will not overturn the Joint Decision it issued,” the resolution dated September 11 said.

“Unfortunately for the accused, a bare imputation of bias based on the accused’s baseless and unfounded impression on the workings of a Justice’s mind, which has yet to be translated into an actual physical vote on the matter raised, cannot by any stretch of imagination be considered as “bias”,” they added.

The Lammawins were convicted last July 19 after they requested money from Rodman Construction and Development Corporation (RCDC) twice — one on June 10, 2002, and another on October 18, 2002.

This was supposedly for the facilitation of advance payments for the construction of the Tabuk Supply Water System Project.  It was proven that the money requested went to couple’s bank accounts — P100,000 to Camilo’s bank account and the P300,000 to Salud’s.  Another transfer worth P120,000 was also made to Salud’s account.

Both claimed that the deposited money was for payment of RCDC’s previous loan.

READ: Sandiganbayan convicts ex-Kalinga town mayor, wife for graft and bribery

But aside from to motion for the justices to inhibit, the couple also reasoned out that there was inordinate delay in the filing of Informations against them, as the complaint was filed in October 2003 while the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon only found probable cause to indict them in September 2013 — almost ten years after.

However, the anti-graft court stressed that final judgment envelopes all issues involved in the said case.

“In even simpler terms, it means that ‘once a lawsuit is decided, the same issue or an issue arising from the first issue cannot be contested again’,” Sandiganbayan said.

“It embodies the principle that parties should not be permitted to litigate the same issue more than once; that when a right or fact has been judicially tried and determined by a court of competent jurisdiction, or an opportunity for such trial has been given, the judgment of the court, so long as it remains unreversed, should be conclusive […],” it added.

With this resolution, the jail sentence for the two — six years and one month up to nine years for each count of graft; and two years, four months, and one day up to eight years and one day for each count of bribery — along orders to pay RCDC P1.2 million and P360,000, will still be in effect.