Court acquits ex-La Union solon, 8 execs of graft cases

By Ma. Reina Leanne Tolentino

THE Sandiganbayan's First Division acquitted former La Union Second District representative Thomas Dumpit Jr. and other individuals of graft charges in connection with the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) totaling about P40 million.
    In a 227-page decision promulgated on Monday, July 3, the court acquitted the following of nine counts of graft: Dumpit; Gondelina Amata, Ofelia Ordoñez, Gregoria Buenaventura, and Sofia Cruz who had been from the National Livelihood Development Corporation; Flerida Alberto; and Godofredo Roque. Lilibeth Aloot-Macazo, who had been a store proprietor and was an accused in four of the nine graft cases, was acquitted.
    The court said in its decision that "assuming that accused Dumpit indeed requested for the release of his PDAF allocation and endorsed the NGO [Kabuhayan at Kalusugan Alay sa Masa Foundation, Inc.], these acts could not be considered as manifest partiality, evident bad faith or even gross inexcusable negligence. This is because assuming he indeed performed all those acts, he was simply carrying out acts required for the release of the funds and other 'informal practices,' which were declared by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional."
    The declaration of unconstitutionality was prospective because of the doctrine of operative fact, the Sandiganbayan's First Division said.
    The court also said that "there was no evidence, testimonial or documentary, introduced to establish that accused Dumpit benefitted from the PDAF transactions."
    In the same decision, the court acquitted Dumpit, Amata, Ordoñez, Buenaventura, Cruz, Alberto, and Roque of three counts of malversation of public funds. Aloot-Macazo, who was an accused in one count, was acquitted.
    The court also acquitted Dumpit, Amata, Ordoñez, Buenaventura, Cruz, Alberto, and Roque of six counts of malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents. Aloot-Macazo, who was an accused in three counts, was acquitted.
    The court said in its decision that it "is inclined to believe that the signatures of accused Dumpit, as appearing in the documents as offered by the prosecution, are forged. Accused Dumpit has consistently denied that the signatures are his. [...]     The prosecution has not presented any expert witness to rebut the opinion of witness [Desiderio] Pagui."
    According to the decision, Pagui "testified that he examined both the known and questioned signatures of accused Dumpit and he concluded that the signatures appearing in the questioned documents are not that of Dumpit."
    Also, the court said that the prosecution "failed to show that [...] Amata, Ordoñez, Buenaventura and Cruz, in the performance of their functions as mentioned earlier, took advantage of their position and falsified any of the abovementioned documents proffered by the prosecution by committing any of the acts mentioned in Article 171 of the Revised Penal Code."
    The court also said in its decision that Aloot-Macazo "has sufficiently proven that the receipts shown by the prosecution are not hers."