Ex-mayor, treasurer acquitted of graft raps

THE SANDIGANBAYAN has acquitted a former acting mayor of Rodriguez, Rizal of graft over his alleged failure to process the salaries of five job-order employees in 2009.

In a 16-page decision on Thursday, the antigraft court’s Third Division cleared former acting mayor Jonas Cruz and municipal treasurer Nemencia Sta. Maria of the charges, saying that prosecutors had failed to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

The court also found no basis to charge the two officials with civil liability. It ordered the return of the bail they posted, and lifted the hold departure orders against them.

Cruz, the vice mayor at the time, acted as mayor after then-Mayor Pedro Cuerpo was suspended over illegal demolition charges.

Five job-order employees accused Cruz and Sta. Maria of violating Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for allegedly neglecting to process their salaries totaling P24,973 from Sept. 11 to Oct. 10, 2009.

The decision, penned by Justice Samuel R. Martires, found that prosecutors failed to prove that the two officials acted with partiality, bad faith, or gross inexcusable negligence.

No evidence

The court noted that there was no evidence showing that the processing of the salaries managed to reach the mayor’s office. While they submitted their daily time records processed up to the accounting department, there was no evidence that the documents were processed by the budget office, the mayor’s office, and the treasurer’s office.

Without proof that the process reached the mayor and the treasurer’s offices, the court said it “cannot even dwell on the matter” of whether the two acted with partiality, bad faith or negligence in handling the documents.