Ex-Nueva Ecija governor, mayors convicted of graft

The Sandiganbayan Seventh Division has convicted former Nueva Ecija governor Tomas Joson III, his nephew former Quezon mayor Eduardo Basilio Joson, and ex-Bongabon mayor Amelia A. Gamilla of graft in relation to the anomalous donation of vehicles in 2007.

          Joson was found guilty of two counts of violation of Section 3(e) and one count of Section 3(g) of R.A. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

He was sentenced to suffer the indeterminate penalty of six years imprisonment as minimum to 10 years as maximum for each of the graft charges.

Eduardo was found guilty of a single violation of Section 3(e), while Gamilla was found guilty of both Section 3(e) and (g).

They were all perpetually disqualified from holding public office.

The graft charges were due to the anomalous donation made by Joson of a mobile clinic, a Toyota Revo, a Ford F150, and a Nissan Urvan to Eduardo.

He also donated a Nissan Terrano, and a Ford Expedition, among others, to the Municipality of Bongabon, which was accepted by Gamilla.

In its ruling, the anti-graft court said that Joson decided to divest the vehicles and mobile clinic to the municipalities of Quezon and Bongabon through simple donations.

But even if the donations were made out of benevolence or patriotism, the court said it must adhere to R.A. 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code of 1991.

Section 379 of R.A. 7160 provides that local government units (LGUs) are only allowed to dispose of properties that have become unserviceable for any cause or is no longer needed.

However, in this case, there was no evidence at all that the vehicles were unserviceable.

“The records do not likewise disclose that there were inventories showing that the same were unserviceable for any cause or were no longer needed by the Provincial Government at the time the same were donated to the municipalities of Quezon and Bongabon,” the decision read.

The anti-graft court ruled that the donations were “unconventional,” since it was made at the sole discretion of Joson.

Joson tried to defend himself by saying that he only donated things that “exceeded the needs of its constituents,” but the court said “there was nothing in the records which could support this claim.”

“Without an actual inventory, or any other similar report on the assets owned by the Provincial Government, it was difficult to imagine that the donations made by accused Tomas Joson involved only the surplus vehicles that the Provincial Government had no need of or the fact that they were unserviceable,” the decision stated.

At the same time, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Nueva Ecija issued Kapasiyahan Big. 37-A, S. 2007, which gave authority to Joson to donate heavy equipment and other properties to the political subdivisions of Nueva Ecija.

The court said the donations of the vehicles and mobile clinic do not fall under the specification of “heavy equipment,” so the local officials should have noticed this red flag and questioned the donation.

“They should have known that they can only receive what they asked for,” the court said.

The 54-page decision was written by Seventh Division Chairperson Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomez-Estoesta with the concurrence of Associate Justices Zaldy Trespeses and Georgina Hidalgo.