The Sandiganbayan has found former Bukidnon lawmaker Candido Pancrudo Jr. and two others guilty of multiple counts of graft and malversation for his alleged misuse of P7.9 million worth of pork barrel allocations.
Aside from Pancrudo, former Technology and Resource Center (TRC) legislative liaison officer Maria Rosalinda Lacsamana and Farmerbusiness Development Corp. (FDC) representative Johanne Edward Labay were also found guilty of multiple counts of graft, malversation of public funds, and malversation of public funds via falsification of public documents.
Voting 3-2, the court's Special Second Division ruled that the three are guilty of eight counts of graft, four counts of malversation of public funds, and four counts of malversation of public funds via falsification of public documents.
The three were charged for the release of Pancrudo's P36.9 million Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) back in 2007 to 2008 supposedly to finance training and livelihood seminars, as well as to purchase training kits for Pancrudo's constituents.
Both turned out to be ghost projects.
Following the decision, the Sandiganbayan sentenced Pancrudo, Lacsamana, and Labay to six to eight years in prison and perpetual disqualification from public office for each of the convictions on eight counts of graft charges.
They were also fined P36.9 million civil liability, payable to the Bureau of Treasury.
The court also imposed the following varying jail time and penalties in the conviction of each individual on four counts of malversation of public funds:
- 10 to 18 years jail time, P16 million fine and P16 million civil liability for case number SB-17-CRM-2104
- 14 to 18 years jail time, P4.8 million fine and P4.8 million civil liability for case number SB-17-CRM-2105
- 14 to 18 years jail time, P8 million fine and P8 million civil liability for SB-17-CRM-2106
- 10 to 16 years jail time, P4 million fine and P4 million civil liability for SB-17-CRM-2107
Likewise, Pancrudo, Lacsamana, and Labay were also sentenced to two to eight years in prison and perpetual special disqualification from public office for their conviction in four counts of malversation of public funds via falsification of public documents.
Likewise, the Sandiganbayan also set the following different amounts of civil liability for their conviction on four counts of malversation of public funds via falsification of public documents:
- P600,000 per individual for SB-17-CRM-2108
- P1 million per individual for SB-17-CRM-2109
- P500,000 per individual for SB-17-CRM-2110
- P2 million per individual for SB-17-CRM-2111
