Pangasinan mayor gets 6-year jail term for overpriced computer

DAGUPAN CITY—The Sandiganbayan sentenced San Manuel Vice Mayor Salvador Perez to at least six years in prison for buying an overpriced computer when he was mayor 16 years ago.

In a statement on Tuesday, the public information and media relations bureau of the Office of the Ombudsman said Perez was also disqualified from holding public office.

Perez declined to comment on his conviction, saying it is now in the hands of his lawyers.

During the trial, prosecutors were able to establish that when the town government bought a computer set, worth P120,000, in 1998, no public bidding was conducted.

“Instead, the purchase was coursed through personal canvass in violation of Republic Act No. 7160, or the Local Government Code of 1991,” the Ombudsman said.

Perez’s coaccused, former municipal treasurer Juanita Apostol, died in 2011, freeing her from any criminal liability.

Perez served as mayor from 1995 to 1998 and from 2001 to 2010. At the end of his term, he ran and won as vice mayor. His eldest son, Mayor Alain Jerico Perez, was his successor. The younger Perez was reelected in 2013. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon