10 years for vice mayor for land deal overprice

The Sandiganbayan has sentenced Borongan City, Eastern Samar Vice Mayor Fidel Anacta, Jr., to up to ten years in prison after he was found guilty of graft over the purchase of an overpriced piece of land.

In a 31-page decision, the antigraft court’s Fifth Division said Anacta violated the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act by entering into a “grossly and manifestly injurious or disadvantageous” land deal when he was the mayor of what was then a municipality in 2003.

Anacta was found guilty beyond reasonable doubt and was sentenced to a period of six years and one month to a maximum of ten years in prison.  He was also perpetually disqualifed from public office.

The court said Anacta had bought a piece of property in 2003 for the expansion of the municipal cemetery for P8.21 million—an exorbitant price considering that 16,426-square meter property’s market value in October 2011 was only P58,197, and it was assessed by the government at P27,694 in November 2011.

A witness had testified that property owner Ramon Limbauan originally priced the land at P1.2 million on installment basis when he offered it to previous mayor Melcho Arago, two years before it was finally sold to the municipality during Anacta’s term in 2003.