Ex-Samar gov sentenced to 10 years for malversation

The Sandiganbayan has sentenced the former officer in charge (OIC) governor of Northern Samar to at least 10 years in prison for malversation of public property.

In a 16-page decision dated March 7, the antigraft court’s Fourth Division convicted John Kam, who served as OIC governor in 1987, for taking and failing to return a Smith & Wesson Airweight .38 cal. revolver, and a Bingham revolver and a Yamaha DT-100 motorcycle.

He was sentenced to imprisonment of at least 10 years and one day, to a maximum of 14 years, eight months and one day. He was also ordered to pay a fine of P18,050 but the court no longer imposed civil liability because he had paid for the items involved in the case.

The court said Kam “never protested or denied the allegations of the prosecution” regarding his alleged failure to turn over the firearms and the motorcycle that were under his custody as OIC governor.

It said that liability for malversation already arose when the provincial government under then Gov. Harlin Abayon began demanding the turnover of the items from 1988 to 1994, when court cases ensued.

Although the items were returned while the case was ongoing, the court considered it only  as a “mitigating circumstance.”

“It is apparent that when Kam was called to account for the properties he received, he could not produce the same,” read the resolution penned by Justice Alex L. Quiroz.

The case arose from a complaint by Abayon against Kam, who became provincial health officer. Kam was charged at the Sandiganbayan in 1995, but proceedings had to be deferred pending the resolution of a suit  seeking the recovery of the items.