Court clears councilor who used gov’t pickup for hospital run

The Sandiganbayan has acquitted a Davao City councilor accused of graft for the unauthorized use of a government pickup truck to take an indigent woman to a hospital.

In a 20-page decision, the antigraft court’s Special Third Division said prosecutors failed to show that Councilor Conrado Baluran and driver Jobert Roy Catalan violated Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act when they used the official’s government-assigned vehicle outside office hours in the early morning of Aug. 14, 2007.

Defense lawyers explained that Catalan drove the Ford pickup to take the woman to the state-run Davao Medical Center (now Southern Philippines Medical Center) after she came to Baluran’s house seeking assistance to get an urgent blood transfusion. On the way, the driver picked up four nursing students who hitched a ride to the hospital.

According to Office of the Ombudsman graft investigator Marco Anacleto Buena, he saw the pickup “being driven recklessly and weaving in and out of traffic.” He later saw the pickup at the hospital and took pictures of it, prompting an investigation for violation of “operation red plate” which prohibited the use of government vehicles outside office hours.

But the court said the prosecutors failed to prove that Baluran and Catalan acted with malice when they used the government vehicle to transport the patient and the nursing students.

“There was no showing that the accused used the government vehicle for a dishonest purpose. Likewise, the act of the accused cannot even be categorized as manifestly partial,” the decision read.

The court said the prosecutors did not specify how the incident caused undue injury to the government by explaining how much fuel was consumed and how the trip caused wear and tear to the vehicle.

“Since the prosecution failed to discharge its burden, the presumption of innocence will prevail and acquittal should follow as a matter of course,” read the decision.