Court clears ex-Red Cross head of theft

MANILA, Philippines - A Quezon City judge has acquitted a former Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) governor of a theft charge filed against him and another PNRC official in 2006.

In a statement, Dante Liban, who was also a PNRC Quezon City chapter chairman; and Jenny Esquillo-De Guzman, former PNRC youth coordinator and incumbent Caloocan City chapter officer-in-charge, said they were cleared of charges of stealing a computer central processing unit (CPU), filed by the Richard Gordon-led PNRC.

In a decision dated Oct. 21, Branch 224 Judge Tita Marilyn Payoyo-Villordon said the prosecution failed to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

The judge said there was no “intent to gain” on the part of Liban and De Guzman in taking the CPU, valued at P17,000, without proper authorization or permission from the PNRC or the Quezon City Chapter administrator Annie Domingo-Torres.

On Sept. 18, 2006, witnesses testified that De Guzman was seen taking the CPU – assigned to then administrative assistant Joel Fuentes – outside the PNRC’s Quezon City Hall office without a gate pass.

De Guzman said she would be bringing the unit to the Red Cross Disaster Management Chapter building at the University of the Philippines campus upon Liban’s request.

Liban said the transfer of the CPU was done because it carried important data and information, and the decision to transfer the CPU was made upon consulting the board secretary, board treasurer and other directors, according to Villordon.

The judge noted that the CPU was bought with the chapter’s funds and was transferred to another office of the chapter.

Liban was a former Quezon City congressman and a recipient of the Aurora Aragon Quezon medal awarded by the PNRC board of governors.