Regular jail for ex-gov convicted of graft

ILOILO CITY—The Sandiganbayan has ordered the transfer to a regular jail of Jovito Plameras Jr., former Antique governor and congressman, to serve his sentence for a graft case.

In a four-page resolution promulgated on Sept. 15, the anti-graft court’s Special Third Division ordered Plameras’ transfer from the Angel Salazar Memorial General Hospital in the capital town of San Jose, Antique to the Antique Rehabilitation Center, the provincial jail.

Plameras, 81, has been under hospital arrest since April 2015 after suffering a stroke and partial paralysis.

The Sandiganbayan, on Dec. 2, 2008, convicted Plameras of graft and sentenced him to a prison term of six years and a month to a maximum of 10 years. He was also penalized with perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

The judgment became final and executory on March 14, 2014.

Plameras was convicted of graft in connection with the purchase by the Antique provincial government, then headed by Plameras as governor, of 1,354 school desks and 5,246 armchairs worth P5.6 million under a project of the then Department of Education, Culture and Sports.

Plameras approved the purchase of the items from CKL Enterprises without bidding and allowed full payment to the supplier even before the items had been delivered, according to court records.

Only 1,294 desks and 1,838 armchairs had been delivered and were found to be defective, said a Sept. 4, 2013 Supreme Court decision that affirmed Plameras’ conviction.

Plameras had repeatedly denied violating any law, saying he did not profit from the transaction.