Roderick Paulate PHOTO BY ARNOLD ALMACEN/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
The Sandiganbayan has affirmed its decision, which found former Quezon City Councilor Roderick Paulate and his former aide guilty of graft and falsification charges for hiring fictitious job contractors. In a 26-page resolution on Friday, the Sandiganbayan’s Seventh Division denied for lack of merit the appeal of Paulate and his former driver and liaison Vicente Bajamunde contesting the Nov. 25 decision that convicted them of graft and several counts of falsification of public documents. In the appeal, Paulate claimed he was unaware that the job contractors were fictitious or inexistent. But the court maintained that Paulate signed the general payrolls and certifications “without any basis.” —Dempsey Reyes