Contractor off the hook for giving money to late Surigao mayor

Sandiganbayan. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA — The Sandiganbayan has acquitted the business manager of a consultancy group of her graft charge for allegedly giving P104,162.31 to the now-deceased mayor of Barobo, Surigao del Sur in exchange for a P25-million feasibility study contract 17 years ago.

In a 56-page decision, the court’s Fourth Division said the prosecution failed to prove the complicity of Joselyn Cabo, the business manager of the Orient Integrated Development Consultancy, Inc., when she gave the money to late Mayor Bonifacio Balahay in August 2000.

State prosecutors claimed the money was given “in consideration” of the World Bank-funded feasibility study earlier conducted for the town’s Community-Based Resource Management Project.

The Sandiganbayan noted that Gabo’s receipt of the bank check and approval of the disbursement “cannot establish conspiracy” to violate Section 3(b) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

It said that as business manager, Cabo “could not have made the decisions on her own accord,” and thus, she “could not have secured the release of a huge amount from the OIDCI, much less conspire with Mayor Balahay to ensure its payment.”

As for the late Balahay, the court said he could not be exculpated for receiving the monetary gift in light of the Commission on Audit’s finding that OIDCI set aside the money after he stated the need for office supplies.

But because he died while the trial was pending, the court said his death had already “extinguished his criminal liability” and it could only rule on Gabo’s liability.

Justice Alex L. Quiroz penned the decision, with the concurrence of Justices Reynaldo P. Cruz and Geraldine Faith A. Econg.

State prosecutors had found the project anomalous because it was awarded to OIDCI in 1999 even without evaluation by the CBRMP project team.

Although Balahay’s son said the money was supposed to be used to buy a computer, prosecutors pointed out that the contract did not provide for it to be part of the agreement.

During trial, Gabo’s defense insisted that the money was only a “donation,” and that the feasibility study project was already completed in July 2000 before the money was given.  SFM