4 Cebu City officials convicted of graft

MANILA, Philippines –The Sandiganbayan has sentenced four Cebu City officials to 12 to 15 years in jail for allowing a disbursing officer to make unliquidated cash advances amounting to more than P9.8 million from September 1995 to March 1998.

The anti-graft court’s Fourth Division, in a 38-page ruling, also ordered city administrator Alan Gaviola, city treasurer Eustaquio Cesa, cash division chief Benilda Bacasmas, and Edna Jaca to pay for the missing funds.

The four officials were found to have allowed accountant Luz Gonzales to make unliquidated cash advances for more than two years without making sure that the funds were accounted for according to Commission on Audit (COA) rules.

The anti-graft court said the prosecution, headed by director Cornelio Somido, was able to prove conspiracy among the four because their signatures were all in the vouchers used to make the cash advances.

Records show that a team of COA inspectors conducted a surprise audit of Cebu City’s finances and discovered how Gaviola, Cesa, Bacasmas and Jaca signed and approved a total of 294 requests for cash advances.

After examining the financial records, they concluded that P9,810,752.60 was missing from the city’s coffers, for which they demanded explanations, but were allegedly given none.

During the trial, the four officials pointed accusing fingers at each other and other people for the mess.

Associate Justice Jose Hernandez who penned the ruling, which Fourth Division chairman Gregory Ong and Associate Justice Alex Quiroz concurred with, said the four officials, as public officers, “acted with manifest partiality, evident bad faith and gross inexcusable negligence” and “were totally remiss in their respective duties and functions.”

The court said the claim of Gaviola, Cesa, Bacasmas and Jaca that “they only followed the old practice of approving vouchers despite non-liquidation of prior cash advances is bereft of merit.”