Sandiganbayan upholds guilty verdict vs ex-city mayor in Negros Occidental

Sandiganbayan in Quezon City. (File photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines – The Sandiganbayan has affirmed the guilty verdict handed down to a former Sipalay City, Negros Occidental mayor, who was convicted of graft after he delayed the suspension orders issued to various city officials.

The resolution from the Fourth Division dated January 6, said that former mayor Oscar Montilla Jr.’s motion for reconsideration was denied because the arguments he raised did not convince the court.

Montilla was found guilty of graft last October 2019, when he “acted with manifest partiality and gave unwarranted benefits to five government employees namely Evangeline Seneres, Eva Sabusap, Fernando Balbin, Noel Villanueva, and Renato Manilla.”

He was accused of retaining them in 2008, even if the Office of the Ombudsman in Visayas had already issued suspension orders.

In the motion, Montilla claimed that he chose not to implement the suspension of the employees because Assistant Ombudsman Virginia Palanca-Santiago, who penned the orders, did not say that it was immediately executory.

He also noted that the decision to defer the five’s suspension was only reached upon consultation with Sipalay’s legal office chief lawyer Elmer Balbin, who advised him that such orders cannot be implemented.

However, the court explained that Montilla’s gross negligence stemmed from taking into consideration Balbin’s advice, despite Montilla knowing that some of the employees being suspended by the Ombudsman were represented by Balbin.

“In ruling that Montilla is guilty of the same, the Court again wishes to emphasize that the latter readily accepted the erroneous advice of Atty. Balbin about the implementation of the Ombudsman’s suspension order despite his knowledge that the person subject of the same was also being represented by Atty. Balbin,” Associate Justice Alex Quiroz said in the resolution.

“Thus, when Montilla delayed the implementation of the suspension order against the Sipalay employees, he in effect gave the aforesaid employees unwarranted advantage[…],” the court added.

Montilla also asserted that he was not able to implement the Ombudsman order because he did not receive a copy of it.  The anti-graft court refuted such claims, insisting that Assistant Ombudsman Santiago has presented documents showing that Montilla received the three letters sent to his office.

With the Sandiganbayan’s decision, the sentence meted against him–imprisonment of six years and one month up to a maximum of eight years–stands.  He also remains to be perpetually disqualified from holding public office.

Edited by JPV