Ex-Dapitan mayor gets 6-year imprisonment for pocketing intelligence funds

MANILA, Philippines—The Sandiganbayan recently convicted former Dapitan City municipal mayor Joseph Cedrick Ruiz for graft and malversation charges for pocketing close to P1 million in confidential intelligence fund (CIF) from 1998 to 2001.

In a 27-page decision penned by Associate Justice Efren N. de la Cruz and concurred in by Associate Justices Rodolfo A. Ponferrada and Rafael R. Lagos, the Sandiganbayan First Division found Ruiz guilty of violating Section 3 (e) of Republic Act No. 3019, otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Ruiz was sentenced to imprisonment of six years and one month to eight years for graft and another 12 years and one day to 18 years and one day for violation of Article 217 (Malversation) of the Revised Penal Code.

Aside from imprisonment, the former mayor who was eventually appointed as judge of the Regional Trial Court in Makati, was also slapped with perpetual special disqualification from holding any public office, fined P950,000 equivalent to the amount pocketed, and ordered to indemnify the city of Dapitan the sum of P950,000, plus interest.

Records showed that for the period from June 30, 1998, to June 30, 2001, Ruiz allowed Police Inspector Pepe E. Nortal to request, for and in his behalf, the withdrawal as cash advance the amount of P1 million from the CIF appropriated under the Office of the City Mayor for fiscal year 2001 “to address the peace and order situation of Dapitan City.”

Nortal testified that Ruiz could not make the cash advance himself as he had not liquidated his previous cash releases. Of the amount, P50,000 was handed to Nortal for the PNP expenses.

In convicting Ruiz, the Sandiganbayan stated that the timing of the P1-million cash advance was suspect as it was done on May 16, 2001, or five days after the May 11, 2001, elections, where he lost his bid for reelection.

“Accused Ruiz’s failure to satisfactorily explain where the money went is sufficient to conclude that he converted the same for his personal use,” the ruling said.

The Office of the Ombudsman, which filed the case, hailed the decision.