Education fund prexy gets 92 to 163 years in jail

The Sandiganbayan has convicted four former officials of the Fund for Assistance to Private Education (Fape) of multiple graft and malversation charges in connection with the alleged anomalous loans extended to Fape’s president in the 1990s.

The court’s First Division on Jan. 26 found former Fape president Adriano Arcelo guilty of seven counts of violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and five counts of malversation.

He drew prison terms of six to 10 years for graft and 10 years to 18 years and eight months for malversation, or a total of 92 to 163 years.

Former Fape investment director Rosa Anna Duavit-Santiago was sentenced to 74 to 133 years imprisonment for four counts of graft and five of malversation.

Former vice president Roberto Borromeo will serve 48 to 86 years for three counts each of graft and malversation, while programs officer in charge Corazon Nera will spend 16 to 28 years for one count each of the same crimes.

The convicted officials were likewise held jointly liable for fines amounting to P6,554,500, which was equivalent to the personal loans granted to Arcelo from Fape funds. The four were also perpetually barred from public office.

The case arose from the loans taken by Arcelo in five instances from February 1994 to January 1995, without the approval of the Private Education Assistance Committee, the trustee of the funds which finally acts on all grants and loans using the Fape funds.