Sandiganbayan allows Yap to post P300k bail in PDAF case

The Sandiganbayan has allowed Bohol 3rd Dist. Rep. Arthur Yap to post a P300,000 bail in connection with the alleged misuse of former Misamis Occidental 1st Dist. Rep. Marina Clarete’s pork barrel funds in 2009.

The antigraft court’s Third Division granted Yap’s motion to fix bail despite the Office of the Ombudsman’s recommendation against it for the complex crime of malversation through falsification.

Presiding Justice Amparo M. Cabotaje-Tang questioned why the prosecution kept stating “no bail recommended” in its charge sheets for the said crime when the Supreme Court ruled in December 2015 that it was a bailable offense.

Thus, the court set the bail for one count of malversation through falsification at P200,000.

This was on top of the P60,000 and P40,000 recommended by prosecutors for two counts of violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and one count of malversation of public funds, respectively.

However, the court denied Yap’s motion for the dismissal of the charges on the grounds of lack of probable cause and the suspension of criminal proceedings.

Yap was named Clarete’s coaccused in four of the 36 criminal charges filed against her.

The incumbent lawmaker’s cases concerned his alleged involvement in an P8-million “ghost” livelihood project. Prosecutors said he entered into a memorandum of agreement with the National Agribusiness Corp. as the implementing agency for the project funded by Clarete’s Priority Development Assistance Fund allocations.

The project allegedly turned out not to have been implemented by the partner non-government organization Kabuhayan at Kalusugang Alay sa Masa Foundation, Inc., an allegedly unqualified non-government organization supposedly endorsed by Clarete. JE