Sarangani prosecutor guilty of bribery

The Sandiganbayan has sentenced a Sarangani prosecutor and his aide to two to five years in jail over a P5,000 bribe demand from a police official.

Convicted of direct bribery were prosecutor Alfredo Barcelona Jr. and his personal assistant Violeto Novio. They were also fined P15,000 each, according to the Office of the Ombudsman, which had prosecuted the case.

Barcelona was also temporary disqualified from holding public office.

The antigraft court ruled that Barcelona and Novio conspired to demand money from Ludivico Ripdos, the chief of police of Glan, Sarangani, in exchange for dropping the latter as a respondent in a criminal case pending before the prosecutor’s office.

Novio was nabbed in an entrapment operation headed by the National Bureau of Investigation in 2004 as he was receiving the money from Ripdos. Following his arrest, Novio had pointed to Barcelona as the one who ordered him to receive the money.

Barcelona, in his defense, said he had only directed Novio to get the records of the case from Ripdos.