Graft conviction of ex-Zambales official affirmed

The Sandiganbayan Sixth Division has affirmed the conviction of former Zambales Provincial Assessor Roberto Corpus of 37 counts of graft for his irregular issuance of tax declarations for a Subic property.

Corpus was sentenced to up to 10 years in jail for each count of graft in the original October decision. He was also perpetually disqualified from public office, and stripped of retirement benefits.

The case stemmed from Corpus’ issuance of tax declarations to several individuals even though the property was already declared and covered by tax certificates in Subic, Zambales, under the names of spouses Rolando and Marites Young. During trial, Corpus admitted that his office issued 37 tax declarations to various parties, without conducting an ocular inspection over the 19.688-hectare property of the Young couple.

Corpus filed a motion for reconsideration, arguing that the cancellation of tax declarations over conflicting claims can only be done through a letter of request, which was absent in this case. However, the antigraft court found no merit in his arguments. —PATRICIA DENISE M. CHIU