Roderick Paulate posts bail for graft, falsification raps

MANILA, Philippines — Actor and Quezon City Councilor Roderick Paulate Friday posted a bail bond of P246,000 for criminal charges over his alleged hiring of ghost employees in 2010.

Paulate arrived at the Sandiganbayan Friday afternoon, a few hours after the anti-graft court raffled off his cases to the Seventh Division.

The bail bond that Paulate posted was in exchange for his provisional liberty for one count of violation of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (P30,000) and nine counts of falsification under the Revised Penal Code (P24,000 per count).

Meanwhile, Paulate's co-accused, his driver and liaison officer Vicente Bajamunde posted a bail bond of P222,000 for one count of graft and eight counts of falsification.

Paulate and Bajamunde posted their bail even before the Seventh Division determines if there is probable cause to order their arrest and to proceed with the formal trial.

Following their posting of bail, the Seventh Division set their arraignment on May 25.

READ: Roderick Paulate charged over ghost employees

Filed by the Office of the Ombudsman on April 20, the cases stemmed from Paulate's alleged hiring in his office 30 fictitious or “ghost” job contractors from July to November 2010.

The ombudsman said Paulate falsified a Job Order/Contract of Service including the signatures therein of the fictitious contractors to oblige the city government to allocate funds for their salaries.

Paulate and Bajamunde also allegedly prepared fictitious Personal Data Sheets of the non-existent contractors as well as eight General Payrolls certifying that the contractors each rendered 40 hours of service per week.

The ombudsman said that because of the falsified payrolls, Paulate, through Bajamunde, was able to collect from the City Treasurer's Office a total of P1.109 million fund, representing the contractors' salaries from July 1 to November 15, 2010.

Bajamunde and Paulate allegedly affixed to the General Payrolls the signatures of the fictitious contractors to make it appear that they have already received their salaries.

It was in January 2016, when the ombudsman ordered Paulate's dismissal from service for administrative offenses of serious dishonesty and grave misconduct over the alleged hiring of ghost contractors.

In December 2016, however, the Court of Appeals granted Paulate's petition for review and overturned the ombudsman's ruling.