Antigraft court convicts mayor who died 2 yrs ago

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—In what could be another tell-tale evidence of how slow the wheels of justice grind in this country, the Sandiganbayan has convicted a former mayor who died almost two years ago.

Rodrigo Tabita Sr., who was Villaverde town mayor from 1999 to 2001, was found last week guilty of malversation by the antigraft court which sentenced him to a prison term of 13 to 18 years.

But incumbent Mayor Ronelie Ubando-Valtoribio said she had to inform the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) that Tabita died in December 2014 from a lingering illness.

The DILG was tasked with enforcing the conviction, which included a P4.3-million penalty representing Tabita’s unliquidated cash advances.

Under the law, a person’s death extinguishes his criminal and civil liability in any pending lawsuit.

Had Tabita been alive, he had the right to appeal the Sandiganbayan’s conviction to the Supreme Court.

ILLUSTRATION BY ALBERT RODRIGUEZ

Valtoribio said she would cite the Sandiganbayan ruling when she formally requests the Commission on Audit to write off Tabita’s liabilities in the local government’s financial books of account.

She said she had considered recovering the former mayor’s cash liabilities from his existing assets. “We have long been looking for his declared properties, but there really was nothing to find. I guess life must be really hard for the family,” she said.

Tabita’s neighbors at Ibung village in Villaverde said the family had lived a simple life even when he served as mayor. His widow, Inocencia Tabita, is a village council member.

Tabita lost his reelection bid to Esmenio Bajo in the 2001 elections.

Villaverde (population: 18,235) is a fifth class town that used to be called Ibung until it was renamed in 1959 after its founder, Fr. Juan Villaverde. Melvin Gascon, Inquirer Northern Luzon