Maslog gets 10 years for textbook scam

MANILA, Philippines — Businesswoman Mary Ann Tupa Maslog, who previously faked her death to avoid conviction, was sentenced by the Sandiganbayan to up to 10 years in prison for graft in connection with the P24-million textbook scam in 1998.

In a decision promulgated yesterday, the court’s Second Division has found Maslog, who also goes by the name Dra. Jesica Sese Francisco, guilty of violation of Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

She was sentenced to six to 10 years of imprisonment and was also ordered perpetually disqualified from holding public office.

The copy of the decision has yet to be released to members of the media as of yesterday afternoon.

Maslog’s lawyer, Nicole Jamilla, however, said her client would file a motion for reconsideration.

Apart from her conviction, Maslog was also reprimanded by the Second Division “for undermining the court’s authority.”

This was after she admitted, upon the questioning of Second Division chairperson and Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Geraldine Faith Econg, that she was released from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) detention facility in Muntinlupa City for about two hours sometime this month after she presented a release order from the court.

Econg said the release order was obviously fake as the Second Division had earlier denied Maslog’s petition to post bail.

Last month, the Second Division maintained that Maslog must remain in detention despite facing a bailable offense of graft as she is a flight risk as proven by her previous acts faking her death, assuming false identities and repeatedly fleeing from authorities.

Filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2008, the graft case stemmed from the then Department of Education, Culture and Sports’ (now the Department of Education) release of payments totaling P24 million to Esteem Enterprises, represented by Maslog, in February 1998 for its supposed delivery of textbooks and other printed learning materials to DECS Region 8 (Eastern Visayas).

The ombudsman said the payment was released in two tranches using two falsified Sub-Allotment Release Orders (Sub-AROs) supposedly issued by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to make it appear that there were fund allocations for the purchase.

The DBM had denied allocating any budget for the project.

In its decision on Oct. 16, 2020, the Second Division found former DECS Region 8 chief accountant Emilia Aranas and chief budget and finance officer Ernesto Guiang guilty of the charged crime.

They were sentenced to six up to 10 years of imprisonment and were ordered perpetually disqualified from holding public office.

The Second Division, however, then ordered the dismissal of the case against Maslog in light of her supposed death on Nov. 18, 2019.

Five years after, or on Sept. 24 last year, the NBI arrested a certain Dr. Jesica Sese Francisco in Quezon City over complaint of fraud, for allegedly scamming two investors for a supposed water supply system in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

After fingerprint matching, however, it was found out that Francisco and Maslog were one and the same person.

It was also found out that apart from using the name Jesica Sese Francisco, Maslog also used to conceal her identity through various other aliases.

While Maslog had already posted bail for her fraud case, the NBI did not release her after the Sandiganbayan Second Division issued a bench arrest warrant for her graft case upon being alerted of the NBI findings.

In its Dec. 19, 2024 resolution denying Maslog’s motion to post bail, the Second Division said the businesswoman even used her own child to report that she passed away in 2019, “further illustrating her attempts to mislead authorities and evade prosecution.”

The Second Division yesterday said Maslog shall remain at the NBI detention facility pending her appeal on her conviction.

Maslog became controversial after recently testifying before the Senate that she was enlisted by the Philippine National Police to help convince dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo to surrender.

Guo was arrested by authorities in Indonesia in September last year.