Roderick Paulate sentenced to up to 62 years in jail for graft

MANILA, Philippines — Comedian Roderick Paulate has been found guilty by the Sandiganbayan on one count of graft and nine counts of falsification of public documents in connection with the hiring of ghost employees in 2010 during his first stint as a Quezon City councilor.

It can be recalled that after his election win in 2010 as Quezon City District 2 councilor, Paulate was removed from office after his alleged hiring of ghost employees from July to November of the same year.

The case against Paulate was officially filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2018, which said the actor-politician falsified a Job Order/Contract of Service, including the signatures of fictitious contractors to oblige the city government to allocate funds for their salaries.

Paulate's total sentence amounted to between 10 and a half years to 62 years of imprisonment — broken down, the graft offense was six to eight years while each falsification offense (eight for public documents, one by public officer) accounts for six months to six years.

Aside from prison time, Paulate was ordered to a pay a P10,000 fine for each count of the falsification offense, a total of P90,000, and is perpetually disqualified from public office.

Also convicted with Paulate was his driver and liaison officer Vicente Bajamunde, who was acquitted of the falsification charges.

Both Paulate and Bajamunde were ordered to compensate the government with P1.109 million (with 6% interest per annum until full payment) — the amount of public funds the two collected from the City Treasurer’s Office for the supposed salaries of the hired employees.

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