SC reverses lower court ruling; clears ex-brgy chief of graft

CEBU, Philippines - After being charged guilty by the lower courts, a former barangay captain of Carmen, Cebu was acquitted by the Supreme Court of graft charges over a resident’s fence that he allegedly removed.

In a decision penned by Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin, the SC ruled that the prosecution failed to establish the guilt of former Luyang barangay captain Teofilo Giangan for violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-graft and Corrupt Practices Act, beyond reasonable doubt.

The Sandiganbayan earlier affirmed the judgment of the trial court finding Giangan and two others guilty of acting in bad faith when they removed on February 17, 2006 the wooden fence Aurelia Bernadas constructed on her lot.

Bernadas alleged she spent P11,200 for labor and materials in the construction of the fence Giangan and former barangay councilmen Santos Bontia and Liberato Dumail (both deceased) removed.

“Conformably with the foregoing, we find that the Sandiganbayan erred in ruling that Giangan and his co-accused had acted with gross bad faith and manifest impartiality when they removed the wooden posts of the fence of Bernadas. On the contrary, their actuations evidence good faith,” read the decision.

The SC, thus, granted the petition for review on certiorari filed by Giangan.

Giangan, for his defense, said he had the fence removed after receiving a report that the fence had been blocking the barangay road.

After removing the fence, they brought the six posts to the police station.

Giangan told Bernadas and her husband that he was forced to remove the fence because of the complaint of the residents.

Despite their defenses, the Regional Trial Court in Danao City found the three guilty of the offense charged and sentenced them to suffer eight to 15 years imprisonment, with perpetual disqualification from public office pursuant to Section 9 of RA 3019.   The three were also ordered to pay jointly P100,000 for moral damages, P11,000 for actual damages and P20,000 for attorney’s fees.

Giangan appealed his conviction before the Sandiganbayan but the graft court affirmed RTC’s judgment with modification reducing the penalty of imprisonment to six to 10 years, and a fine of P6,200 only for actual damages and P25,000 for moral damages.

The SC, however, found merit in the petition filed by Giangan, adding that the Sandiganbayan erred in affirming the decision of the trial court.

“Giangan as the barangay chairman acted upon the honest and sincere belief that he was then summarily abating the nuisance that a regular user of the obstructed road had just reported to him. A further indication of the good faith of Giangan was the turning over of the wooden posts to the police station, manifesting that the accused were acting within the scope of their authority,” the decision read.

At the time of the removal of the wooden posts, Bernadas had no building permit and had not filed any application for it for the construction of the fence, the SC added.  (FREEMAN)