Pasay prosecutor gets 10 years for direct bribery

The Sandiganbayan has sentenced a Pasay City prosecutor to serve up to 10 years in prison for direct bribery, almost a decade after his actions were captured by an investigative TV program using a hidden camera.

In a 54-page decision dated Nov. 3, the antigraft court’s Fifth Division said the act of direct bribery was sufficiently shown by Assistant City Prosecutor John Giselher Imperial’s entrapment on June 2, 2007.

State prosecutors had accused Imperial of asking a petitioner for a P10,000 bribe on top of sexual favors in exchange for a favorable resolution on the oral defamation and threats case she had filed against a neighbor.

Imperial, however, questioned the admissibility of the prosecution’s evidence, saying the policemen and cameramen were not inside his office when the marked money was given to him. He also pointed out that there was no proof that the money was a bribe.

But the court disagreed with his argument, saying that even without the policemen and cameramen, prosecutors had sufficiently established the plan and circumstances behind the entrapment operation. It also gave weight to the testimonies of the lawmen who conducted the operation.