The Sandiganbayan Seventh Division has acquitted former Tandag City, Surigao del Sur Mayor Alexander Pimentel of his graft case involving his alleged refusal to pay the salary and clothing allowance of a city councilor, from 2012 to 2013.
In a decision, the antigraft court said Pimentel was “unwillingly placed in the middle of a curious, novel, and difficult legal state of affairs” when he had to decide whether or not the local government unit could pay the salary of Coun. Mario Cuartero, during Tandag’s transition from a municipality to a city.
Pimentel eventually vetoed a city council resolution that allotted budget for the payment of Cuartero’s salaries amounting to P485,369.24, since the new city was only given an internal revenue allotment for a municipality in 2010. —PATRICIA DENISE M.CHIU